Close Friends and Dear Family
by KatieGirl901
Summary: Part Three of Tomorrow's Family... New relationships are put to the test as the family grows and expands, familiar faces are back as well as new trials for the Shepard-Gibbs clan in the third instalment of the Tomorrow's Family Series.
1. Chapter 1

**One**

"We got him."

The whispered words brought her out of the deepest sleep she had experienced in the last two and half weeks of hell. She rolled over and blinked groggily, unsure if she had heard correctly.

"We got him." Gibbs whispered again.

She sat up and ran her hand through her hair, she was still half asleep but the words had made an impact that time.

"We got him?" She asked, her hand grabbing his, "are you sure?"

"One hundred percent, we got the man who killed SecNav." Gibbs replied as he reached out to brush her tangled hair behind her ear.

She nuzzled her cheek into the hand by her ear and squeezed the hand she was holding in hers.

"We got him." She said with a sigh of relief, "I have to get into the office!" She exclaimed quietly.

"No." Gibbs replied firmly, "Vance's handling things."

"But-"

"No." Gibbs said again, "you need sleep, you've been running yourself to the ground these last few weeks."

"We all have." She reminded him quietly.

"Yeah." He agreed, "And that's why we're not going back until Tuesday."

"What?"

"I'm taking my team out of rotation, and Leon is covering for you since you handled things on your own for the week he went to move Jackie and the kids."

"But that's four days." Jenny pointed out.

"Yeah, and we've barely seen each other or our kids for almost three weeks." He countered, "we found SecNav's killer, loose ends are all tied up and reports are done it's time to take a break."

He had a valid point, they had barely seen each other for the last two and a half weeks, Gibbs had been working eighteen hour days. His schedule had been hectic and none-stop, he would come home at 1900 and help Jenny get the kids ready for bed, go back into the office until 0100, come home and sleep for five hours, help get the kids ready for school and then start all over again.

Jenny's schedule hadn't been much better, the first week had been the worst with Leon in LA helping Jackie move but after that they had been able to switch off duties. Kelly and Dani had been their saving grace throughout the entire ordeal, they had stepped up to help out with the younger kids without either Jenny or Gibbs having to ask and had been the only reason they had been able to pull everything off.

As much as leaving the office for four whole days stressed her out she knew that everyone deserved a break and she also knew that she was on the edge of burning out. Although he still wasn't her favourite person she had to admit that Vance had proven himself over and over during the last few weeks and she trusted him with her agency implicitly. She also desperately wanted to spend time with the kids, she felt like she had been going a million miles and hour for the last few weeks and she just wanted to slow down.

"Alright." She conceded, "on one condition."

"Okay?" He replied, raising his eyebrow.

"Kiss me."

He snorted and grinned but reached up to caress her cheek, she leaned forward and pressed her lips to his, a small smile blooming as he pulled her closer.

"I missed doing that." She whispered as she pulled back to lean her forehead against his.

"Missed _you_." He muttered capturing her lips again.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and shifted closer to him as he deepened the kiss, she felt his tongue brush across her lips and she opened her mouth to grant him the access he was silently asking for. She played with the short hair at the base of his neck and moaned quietly.

"Shhh." He whispered against her lips, "love to hear you but really don't want questions from the kids."

"Oh god." She whispered, leaning her forehead against his shoulder as she laughed softly.

He wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head, she nuzzled his neck for a moment before burrowing into his side with a contented sigh.

"Are you going to come to bed?" She asked as she ran her hand over his chest.

"You don't mind?" He asked.

He hadn't slept in the bed since SecNav had died, with his hours he had been sleeping in the guest room so he didn't wake Jenny up coming in and out at all hours. She had fought it tooth and nail but he had been adamant that he wasn't going to interrupt her already non-existent sleep.

"I wouldn't have asked if I minded." She replied, "I sleep better when you're here." She admitted quietly.

"Alright." He kissed the top of her head and stood up slowly, "I'm gonna grab a shower."

She laid back down and listened to him moving around in the en-suite bathroom, by the time he finished showering she had almost fallen back to sleep. She felt the bed dip behind her as he climbed in and shuffled back against him as he wrapped an arm around her waist, she let out a contented sigh and let sleep claim her.

N*C*I*S

The first thing she noticed as she opened her eyes was the light streaming in through the partially closed curtains. She blinked and rolled onto her back as she tried to wake herself up completely. It took her a moment to realize that there should not be light streaming through the window at 0500, she bolted up in bed and reached for her alarm clock.

"Crap." She muttered when she saw the time.

She couldn't remember the last time she had slept past 0700, the clock on her nightstand read 1100 and she had to check the time on her phone to make sure it was correct. She tossed back the covers and threw her legs over the side of the bed, she was about to stand up when she noticed a folded piece of paper on the bedside table. She reached out to unfold it and smiled as she read the familiar scrawl.

_Jen,_

_The kids are at school, took the baby to get groceries we'll be home in time for lunch._

_~ Jethro._

She relaxed considerably when she realized that Gibbs had taken care of everything, she opened the top drawer of her nightstand and carefully laid the note in there before getting up. She took her time taking a shower and put on a pair of yoga pants and a loose t-shirt before making her way downstairs.

She was in the middle of folding a load of laundry when she heard the crunching of gravel in the driveway. She folded the onesie in her hands and stood up to help Gibbs unload the groceries. She made it to the front door just as he walked in carrying Ava's carseat in one hand and a bag of groceries in the other.

"Hey." She greeted, taking the bag out of his hand as she leaned in to give him a kiss.

"How'd you sleep?" He asked with a smirk.

"Well I slept for close to twelve hours so I'd say pretty good." She replied with a grin, "thank you for taking care of everything."

"You're welcome." He replied, kissing her again, "can you grab her and I'll bring in the rest."

She took the car seat and smiled down at the Ava who was sound asleep, one fist tucked under her chin and the other fist half in her mouth.

"How long has she been asleep?" She asked.

"About forty-five minutes, she'll be ready to eat when she wakes up."

"I'll go make some lunch."

She carried the bag of groceries and the carseat into the kitchen and deposited both on the middle of the island, she put away the groceries and pulled out everything she needed to make soup and grilled cheeses. She was just putting the pot on the stove when Gibbs wandered in, his arms full of bags.

"Remember when getting groceries meant one maybe two bags?" Gibbs asked as he dumped everything on to the table.

"Remember when you did laundry once a week and the house was quiet?" She countered, "or when you could go to bed naked and not worry about our son climbing into bed at five in the morning?"

Gibbs glanced over at her, watching the way she mixed water into the soup mix, her hair in a messy bun and the baby sound asleep in her carseat behind her. The kitchen was tidy but there were a few dirty dishes in the sink and the dish wrack was full of clean dishes and bottles. The laundry was never done, the house was never completely clean and privacy was non-existent but he wouldn't change it for the world.

"Wouldn't change it." He stated.

He walked around the counter and wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her back against his chest.

"Not for the world." He whispered against her hair.

She leaned back against him and smiled as she stirred the soup, he ran his hand across her stomach and kissed the top of her head.

"Me either." She agreed quietly, "especially now that we can actually spend more than ten minutes together."

She placed her hand over his on her abdomen and tilted her head to kiss him but just as her lips were about to brush across his Ava let out a distressed cry from her seat.

"Hey, hey." Jenny cooed softly as she pulled away from Gibbs.

She walked around the counter and carefully unbuckled Ava before taking her out of the carrier.

"Hey, Mommy's right here little monkey, you're fine."

She rocked back and forth for a few minutes, as soon as the baby was calm she settled her on her hip and put away whatever groceries she could as Gibbs took over making lunch.

N*C*I*S

Gibbs rested his head against the back of the couch, his eyes closed as he listened to the sound of music drifting from the piano. The familiar hymn sounded even better when it was Jenny and Kelly playing it, the soft sound of violin filled the room as Kelly joined in the music.

_"__How precious did that grace appear." _Jenny sang softly.

It was rare that she sang in front of anyone but if Kelly asked she had a hard time saying no. He wasn't sure how they had landed on this particular song but he knew that Kelly was planning to play in church on Sunday and this was probably on her list of songs to play.

He lifted his head and opened his eyes to glance around the room, he couldn't remember them ever having a lazy Friday evening and he had to say that he liked it. Jake was laying on the floor playing with Ava, Dani was curled up in an armchair with a book and there was a small fire on the hearth and the soft music filled the room. He was used to spending his rare Friday nights off in his dusty basement with his boat, he was so grateful for the unexpected turn his life had taken.

**Welcome Back everyone! Here we go again, just a little bit of fluffiness to get us off the ground! I love to hear from you guys, remember I own nothing… I just want to say thank you all again for your continued support for this series! (Bonus points to anyone who can figure out where this title came from!)**

**~Katie**


	2. Chapter 2

**Two**

Jenny woke slowly to dim light streaming in through the window, she listened for a moment but didn't hear anything that would've woken her. She sighed contentedly and pulled the blankets closer around her. She felt Gibbs' arm tighten around her, the movement made her very aware of the body behind her and she couldn't help but smirk when she realized that at some point during the night his hand had found it's way under her shirt and was now cupping her breast.

She felt him sigh against her neck as he burrowed his face in to the tangled hair at the back of her neck. She shifted carefully and reached to pull his hand down to rest on her stomach. She didn't mind where it had been but she wanted to avoid any awkward moments when he woke up and realized what he had done. She rested her hand on top of his and intertwined their fingers before closing her eyes and allowing herself to doze off again.

She dozed peacefully for close to twenty minutes until she felt Gibbs' thumb brush gently back and forth over the bare skin of her abdomen, she gave his hand a squeeze to let him know she was awake.

"Morning." He muttered.

"Good morning." She replied quietly, "how'd you sleep?"

"Pretty good." He tightened his arm around her, "you?"

"Good," She replied, "the baby slept through the night." She added in awe.

She looked over at the clock and saw that it was already 063o and the baby monitor was still silent.

"It's a miracle." He muttered.

"You don't believe in miracles." She pointed out with a small chuckle.

"I do now." He whispered, placing a kiss on her neck.

"Cheesy."

"But true." He retorted, "didn't think I was ever gonna get this."

She untangled their fingers and rolled over to face him, she rested her hand on the side of his cheek and gently stroked her thumb back and forth.

"Neither did I." She admitted softly.

She let her hand slide down to the side of his neck before leaning forward to tuck her head under his chin. She felt his arm go back around her waist and she wrapped her own arm around him and ran her hand up and down his back. She felt him drop another kiss to the top of her head and looked up at him with a small smile, she ducked her head again when he leaned down for a kiss.

"You okay?" He asked.

"I'm fine." She replied, attempting to pull back, "just going to go brush my teeth."

"Jen." He sighed in slight exasperation, "I don't care."

He may not have but there was a part of her that cared, they had lived together before but she had been much more careful to keep herself looking good and put together no matter what… Now she couldn't even remember the last time she had shaved her legs, she had been wearing pants for two weeks. When they had first been together she had made a point to get up before him and brush her teeth and at least make sure that she looked sort of put together, she had always made sure her legs were shaved and she was well groomed but with four kids and an insane job she hadn't had time for herself in weeks. She knew her hair needed to be cut and highlights probably wouldn't hurt to help hide the few grey hairs that were popping up, she couldn't remember the last time she'd had time in the shower to really wash and condition her hair, dry shampoo was her new best friend and over all she felt like the most unattractive person in the world.

"I do." She admitted quietly, "I care, Jethro, we live together it's not like there's a whole lot of mystery left in our relationship but I still want to feel a least a little bit attractive."

She lightly whacked his chest when he snorted and raised an eyebrow at her.

"Jen, you're just as attractive as you've always been." He pointed out, "that's never been an issue."

"I think you need glasses." She retorted.

"Nah." He dismissed her, "I can see just fine."

He leaned over and dropped a kiss to her shoulder.

"You are just as attractive as when I first met you." He whispered, lightly kissing up to her neck, "just as sexy as you were ten years ago."

She tilted her head to the side to give him better access and sighed softly when he hit the sensitive spot just under her ear. She felt him smirk against her neck before he nipped the skin under his lips.

"You're starting something." She muttered as she reached up to run her fingers through the short hair on the back of his neck.

"You asking me to stop?"

She ran her hands through his hair one more time before shifting away from him.

"Yes." She whispered, "I… We need to talk."

He leaned back and propped himself up on one arm so he was looking down at her, he watched her run her left hand through her hair and his eyes couldn't help but land on the rings on her finger.

"Jen…" He started slowly, "We good?"

"We're fine." She reassured him quickly, "but with everything that happened we never got to talk about… us."

"Okay…" He watched her sit up with her back against the headboard, "what about us?"

"I don't want to make the same mistakes we made last time." She stated quietly, she twisted the rings on her finger nervously, "I don't want to start off with everything being about sex, I don't want to try and solve all of our problems with sex… We're doing so well right now I just don't want to ruin that."

"And you think sex will ruin it." Gibbs said slowly.

"No." She replied quickly, "I'm not saying that it's never going to happen, I just want make sure we're in a good place before we go there… There's so much going on right now I don't know if I'm ready for… that."

"Okay." Gibbs agreed.

"Okay?" She asked skeptically.

"Yeah, if you're not ready then we wait as long as you need." He replied firmly, "You're right, lotta stuff going on right now and this is still new."

"You're not upset?"

"Course not, Jen, I'll wait as long as you want."

"I don't want you to get bored." She admitted, "I don't want to lose you."

"I'm not going anywhere." He assured her, "and I'm definitely not gonna get bored, this is it for me, Jen, this right here."

He gestured between them and tapped his finger on her engagement ring.

"This's been it for me for a long time now." He added quietly, "so if you wanna wait then we'll wait until you're ready."

He pushed himself up and gently pressed his lips against hers, she was about to protest but the words died on her lips as he pulled back and rested his forehead against hers.

"I don't care about your hair being messy or morning breath or any of that, Jen." He whispered, "what we had eight years ago was good but _this_" He gestured between them, "this is real, that was good but _this _is great."

Three words were on the tip of her tongue and she had to physically bite it to stop herself from saying them. A part of her was afraid of admitting it out loud and being laughed at again another part of her was terrified of scaring him away, so she kept the words to herself instead she tilted her head and pressed her lips against his.

N*C*I*S

"I still can't believe you forgot." Dani muttered as she tossed a load of dirty laundry into the washer as Jenny frantically folded a load of clean laundry beside her.

"Things have been so nuts." Jenny replied in exasperation, "she called to say she was coming the afternoon we found out about SecNav and I completely forgot about it until my phone reminded me this morning, I didn't even remember to tell your dad."

"What did Gibbs say when you told him?" Dani asked.

Jenny glanced over at her daughter and shrugged, Gibbs had been fine with it when she had told him that Lydia Diaz was coming to meet the kids. Lydia had been the only mother Jenny had known growing up, her father had hired her to take care of Jenny and Heather shortly after their mother had left and Lydia had stayed with Jenny as her housekeeper until Jenny and Gibbs had moved to Europe and then the Cuban woman had retired. They had stayed in touch and Lydia had been one of the first people Jenny had told about the kids. Lydia had been there through the dark period after her fathers death and had stood by and supported her during her pregnancy with Dani, she had wanted to share the happiness in her life with the closest thing she had to a mother.

"He was fine with it." She replied, "he probably would have enjoyed a bit more notice." She added after a minute.

"I think we all would've enjoyed a bit more notice." Dani countered, "especially since you've decided everything needs to be spotless."

"Not _spotless_." Jenny corrected, "just tidy."

"We're always tidy, compared to other kids we're surprisingly neat." Dani pointed out, "it doesn't hurt that you and Gibbs are anal about keeping everything in its place."

"We were both born and raised in military families and we both served in some capacity." Jenny reminded her, "it becomes a habit and it's not a bad one."

"I never said it was, I was more wondering why you're freaking out over the fact that surprise surprise we, as a family of six make _laundry_."

"Don't mock me." Jenny warned gently, "I'm not freaking out, I just want her to see that I can take care of myself."

_"__Lo siento"_ Dani muttered, "I wasn't trying to mock you, I just don't see the big deal."

"_Está bien, _and you'll understand when you're older." Jenny promised her, "good Spanish by the way."

"_Gracias_, it seems that there is one thing Kelly and I have in common." Dani stated, "we both like languages."

"And you're both good at learning them." Jenny replied.

Both girls had inherited their respective parents knack for languages, Gibbs knew four including English and Jenny was up to six, seven if you counted her limited Russian. Kelly and Dani were surprisingly both fluent in ASL, Kelly had vague memories of Shannon and Gibbs teaching it to her as a child and she had kept it up after the accident as a way to feel closer to her parents and Dani had had a deaf foster sibling when she was younger. Both girls were fluent in Spanish and Kelly had passible French and Dani was attempting to learn it.

"Well between you and Gibbs we come by it honestly enough." Dani pointed out.

"Well it'll make Lydia happy that you know Spanish." Jenny said with a small laugh, "Your Aunt Heather and I didn't understand a word when my father first hired her but within the year we were both fluent, _Las chicas aprenderán español si es lo último que hago." _She said, imitating the woman's heavy Cuban accent.

"She sounds like a fun person." Dani deadpanned.

"You'll love her once you get to know her." Jenny promised, "she was the one person I could consistently count on in my life, she was there for me after my dad died, when I had you… When I had to say goodbye to you…"

"And that's why we're making everything spotless." Dani said quietly.

"I want her to know that I got it together." Jenny admitted.

She had been in a better place when she left for Europe but she knew Lydia had been worried about her, had been worried she would relapse if she didn't have supervision. She had managed to keep it together for the most part but she desperately wanted to show the woman who had been a mother to her that she had pulled herself together and was able to take care of her family.

"Okay." Dani replied slowly, "I get it now."

Jenny wrapped and arm around her daughters shoulder and kissed the side of her head, she heard Dani sigh and could almost hear her eyes rolling so she wrapped both her arms around the teen and squeezed her tighter.

"Don't roll your eyes, they'll stay like that." She whispered against Dani's short hair.

"_Si, Mami." _Dani replied in exasperation.

Jenny couldn't help but smile at the title, she would never get tired of hearing her children call her mom or any version of it. It was still rare that Dani said it, more often than not she just didn't call her anything when she addressed her so it still made her heart leap every time she did say it.

"_Te quiero, Mija." _She whispered against Dani's hair.

"Yeah, yeah, you just say that because I help you clean." Dani replied.

Jenny only shook her head at Dani's joking tone, she hadn't expected to hear the words back. She was just happy that Dani was even talking to her, she knew that on some level the girl did love her but she really didn't expect to hear the words from the closed off teen any time soon, she just hoped that she would hear them eventually.

**So I by no means speak any Spanish, my languages of choice are French, ASL and English, so bear with me if any of this is wrong and please feel free to PM me and let me know and I'll fix whatever is wrong… I recently got into One Day At A Time and Lydia is my favourite character basically ever so yes this Lydia is absolutely based on her (pretty much the same person with a few differences)… I own nothing but I absolutely love to hear from you guys!**

**~ Katie**

Lo siento - Sorry

Está bien - It's okay

Las chicas aprenderán español si es lo último que hago - Those girls will learn Spanish if it's the last thing I do.

Si, Mami- Yes Mom

Te quiero - I love you

Mija - shortened version of daughter, fond nickname type thing.


	3. Chapter 3

**Three**

Gibbs watched Jenny scramble to tidy up the baby toys with a fond but slightly concerned smile. Dani was upstairs getting changed and Kelly was changing Ava into a clean outfit.

"Jen, it's gonna be fine, it's just Lydia."

He held up his hands defensively when she glared at him, he should have known better than to open his mouth, that was on him. He loved Lydia and he knew the woman absolutely adored Jenny but he understood why Jenny was stressing out, she wanted to impress her mother. He looked over to the staircase when he heard footsteps and just shrugged at Dani when she shot him a look that said _'what is wrong with her now?' _

"Jen, I'll finish this up, go get changed." He offered.

She was still in her PJ's and her hair was a mess. He personally didn't care, he wouldn't admit it out loud but he actually thought it was kind of cute but he knew Jenny would have a small heart attack if Lydia showed up and she looked like that.

"Shit." She muttered, looking down at her outfit, "Okay, make sure that everything is picked up."

"Yes dear."

"What?" Jenny asked through gritted teeth.

"I will do it." He corrected, raising his hands again, "just go get ready."

He didn't understand how their quiet morning in bed had turned into an absolute shit show of frazzled cleaning, Jenny turning into a neurotic mess and Dani rolling her eyes every thirty seconds.

"She's crazy…" Dani muttered as she helped Gibbs to finish tidying up.

"Watch it." Gibbs warned gently, "but in this case you're not completely wrong." He added quietly.

"I mean I get why it's important to her but I think we're being a bit over the top about everything."

"Just roll with it." Gibbs replied, "and try not to roll your eyes too much in front of Lydia."

"Fine, fine." Dani conceded with a sigh.

Gibbs had to stop himself from rolling _his_ eyes at her, he turned around and went back to tidying up. If Jenny came back down and things weren't spotless someone was going to die. He put the last toy in the toy box under the window and looked around the den, he was pretty sure that it would pass Jenny's test.

He walked across the foyer and peeked into the living room, it was spotless but it was rare that the kids played in there, they tended to stick to the den, outside or their rooms if they wanted to do something that would make a mess.

"Have you seen Ava's teething thingy?" Kelly asked as she walked into the room.

"In the freezer." Gibbs replied as he fluffed a pillow, "thanks for getting her changed."

"No problem." Kelly responded, "Jake should be down in a minute, I made sure his hair was brushed and his clothes looked neat."

"Thanks."

Gibbs looked down as he felt something brush against leg and grinned down at Ava who was seated by his feet with a wide grin on her face, showing off her two bottom teeth.

"Hey, Bug."

Ava squealed loudly and held up her arms to be picked up, he put down the pillow in his hand and leaned down to scoop her up.

"You look cute." He said, making a face at her.

She was in black leggings, a black and white checked dress with a long sleeved grey onesie underneath, Kelly had pulled Ava's wispy hair back into a pouffy ponytail on the top of her head and Gibbs couldn't help but think how cute it made the baby's chubby cheeks look.

Kelly came back into the room proudly holding up Ava's teething ring, Gibbs took it from her and handed it to the baby who took it with a squeal.

"You look nice." He stated.

Kelly was wearing a flowy white tank top thingy, an oversized pink knit cardigan and light-washed jeans, he liked it when she wore pink, it reminded him of the obsession she'd had with the colour when she was little.

"You look nice too." He added when Dani walked into the room.

The younger teen was in dark red jeans and a black and white stripped sweater, it was still in keeping with her normal style but was tame compared to what she normally wore.

"It loses all meaning when I'm the third person you say it to." Dani pointed out, "but thank you."

"You're welcome." Gibbs replied with a snort.

He placed Ava back on the ground and watched her roll onto her side and then onto her back with a contented sigh.

"Dad, should this be buttoned?" Jake asked, wandering into the room with his chin tucked to his chest as he fiddled with the top button on his red polo shirt.

"No." Gibbs replied, "leave that one undone."

He grabbed Jake's shoulders to stop him when he got too close to where the baby was laying.

"Watch where you're walking." He said, "and go wash your face, you've got toothpaste everywhere."

He watched Jake bound out of the room and up the stairs.

"I'm going to go check on your mom, can you watch your sister?" He asked, looking to Dani and Kelly.

"Sure." Dani replied with a shrug, "she's going full upside down turtle so I'm not sure there's a whole lot to watch."

"Just keep an eye on her." Gibbs said.

There were moments when there was no doubt as to who's daughter Dani was, she had Jenny's quick wit and sassy attitude that was for sure. Some days he felt out numbered by all of the women in the house and although they each had their own distinct personalities he couldn't help but see the similarities between all of them.

He gave one more glance to Ava before making his way up the stairs, he knocked lightly on the bedroom door before letting himself in. He immediately wished that he had waited for Jenny to invite him in because when he walked in she was wearing low slung black jeans and only a black lace bra on top. Her back was turned to him but that didn't help matters, her pale skin was marred by a few scars and the dark ink of the few tattoos on her back popped against her skin.

She had had two tattoos when they had first been together, one of a butterfly on the right side of her lower back and one on her thigh. The butterfly was still there but now it was resting on a delicate black lily, there was a string of roman numbers underneath it and he was willing to bet it was the day Lilian had been born.

"Sorry." He apologized, looking down quickly.

"It's fine." Jenny replied, "it's nothing you haven't seen before."

"It is a bit." Gibbs replied without thinking.

Jenny reached back and gently touched the lily on her back, she nodded without looking back at Gibbs and pulled a blue blouse on, she buttoned it up and pulled a beige sweater over top of it. He watched her fasten a necklace around her neck and carefully fixed the loose curls in her hair. He walked up behind her and wrapped his hands around her waist.

"You look great." He whispered against her hair, "remember it's just Lydia."

"I know, I know." Jenny replied with a sigh, "I just want to prove that I got it together."

"You don't have to _prove_ anything to family." He reminded her gently, "we're all here to support you, no one is judging."

"Thank you." Jenny whispered.

She turned so she was facing him and wrapped her arms around his waist, she propped her chin on his chest and looked up at him with a gentle smile.

"I don't know what I'd do without you." She added quietly.

He brushed his hand across her cheek and let it rest against the side of her head.

"You'd find a way." He replied softly, "but you won't have to for a long time."

She stood on her tiptoes and pressed a gentle kiss on his lips.

"I'd better not." She replied quietly but firmly.

She was about to kiss him again when the door to their bedroom flew open.

"She's here!" Jake exclaimed before bolting out of the room again.

"I guess she's here." Jenny said with a small laugh, "so much for a quiet weekend."

"This'll be good too… Just more interesting." Gibbs replied with a snort.

"Things are never dull when Lydia is around." Jenny stated.

She let go of Gibbs and led the way downstairs, her foot hit the bottom stair just as there was a knock on the front door followed by it flying open.

"_Mija_!" Lydia exclaimed, holding out her arms to Jenny.

"Hi, _Mami_." Jenny replied with a laugh as she walked into the older woman's arms.

Lydia had not changed in the year since she had last seen her, her brown hair was still cut in a short bob, her face done up with makeup and her trademark red lipstick, her outfit was flattering and bright as usual. Lydia had never been the typical nanny, she had been eccentric and a force to be reckoned with since Jenny's father had hired her and she had stayed that way for as long as Jenny had known her.

"_Mami, _I want you to meet my family, you remember my partner Jethro."

"It is good to see you again." Lydia greeted him, "why have you not married my _Niña _yet?"

Gibbs opened his mouth to respond but Jenny held up her hand, closed her eyes and shook her head.

"Our oldest daughter Kelly." Jenny said gesturing to Kelly.

"It is so nice to meet you, oh you are just _precioso_." Lydia said, giving Kelly a hug.

"And Dani, the last time you saw her…" Jenny said as Dani stepped forward.

"You were so _pequeña, _you have grown up so much, _mija." _Lydia commented in awe as she brushed a hand over Dani's cheek.

"She has." Jenny agreed proudly, "and this is our son Jake."

"_Ay Papito!" _Lydia exclaimed pinching Jake's cheek before she pulled him in for a hug.

Gibbs snorted when Jake steeped back and rubbed his cheek, he gave his son a reassuring smile when Jake looked over at him in surprise.

"And this must be the _babé." _Lydia exclaimed as she noticed the baby that was now in Jenny's arms.

"This is Ava." Jenny replied, "she just turned eight months old."

"You have a gorgeous family, Mija." Lydia replied, "such beautiful children."

"Thank you, Mami." Jenny replied proudly, "we're pretty proud of them."

"And you should be, just look at them!" Lydia exclaimed, "_Son perfectos!"_

"Can I show you around Ms. Diaz?" Jake asked excitedly.

He was definitely his mothers son, there was a clear line between their kids, Kelly and Jake were both extroverts and enjoyed socializing like Jenny while Dani was an introvert who didn't speak unless it was necessary like Gibbs.

"No." Lydia said, "none of that , you may call me Aboulita."

She looked over to Jenny after she said it, almost as if realizing that she probably should have asked if that was okay but Jenny just nodded reassuringly.

"You three give your Aboulita a tour, your dad and I are going to bring her bags in."

"I have no bags." Lydia replied, "I did not wish to intrude so I got a hotel."

"Mami you wouldn't be intruding." Jenny argued, "we made up the guest room for you."

"Yeah!" Jake exclaimed, "you need to stay here Aboulita."

"Well…" Lydia said slowly, "if you are sure you do not mind?"

"Not at all." Jenny assured her, "go on a tour with the kids and then one of us will take you to the hotel to get your stuff."

"_Gracias._" Lydia replied, "now, take me on your tour _Papito."_

Jenny watched the small group wander off and turned to Gibbs who was watching her with a grin.

"You're excited." He stated.

"It's been over a year since I've seen her." Jenny replied with a shrug, "and I'm proud of our family and our home." She admitted slowly, "she's always been proud of my career but this is something she's wanted for me since I was Jake's age… She's waited so long for this and it's nice to hear that she's proud of it."

"Nothing wrong with that." Gibbs assured her, "I'm proud of our life too, and it's nice to see Lydia again."

"You're sure you're okay with her staying here?"

"Yeah." Gibbs replied, "she's family."

"And you're hoping she'll cook something while she's here." Jenny guessed with a small grin.

"Maybe…." Gibbs replied slyly, "Lydia's cooking is the best." He whispered, "don't tell Kelly."

"I heard that!" Kelly called from the living room.

"_Gracias_, Gibbs!" Lydia called out, "Do not worry, Kelly, I will teach you everything I know."

Jenny snorted at the promise, Lydia had tried to teach her to cook from the time she was a kid but she'd never had any interest in it. Maybe she would take her up on the offer now that she was older.

**Hello All! I hope everyone enjoyed this, please remember I don't own anything and I don't speak any Spanish… For people asking about Ziva don't worry she's coming I just need to set up the story first, this part will focus a lot on the relationship between Ziva and Jenny and Gibbs but it is in no way Ziva centric so if that is you're looking for I suggest checking out some of AliyahNCIS's stuff! Thank you all for your reviews!**

**~Katie**

_precioso: _Precious

_pequeña: _Little or small

_Papito: _Affectionate Nickname

_Son perfectos: _They're perfect


	4. Chapter 4

Four

Jenny watched the chaos unfold as Kelly and Lydia cooked for a traditional Cuban dinner, she had planned on making dinner for Lydia's first night in town, or rather having Kelly help her make dinner, but Lydia had insisted on introducing the kids to traditional Cuban food. Jenny only hoped that Jake would actually eat something, she had a microwave dinner on standby just in case. She hated feeding them to him but for emergencies or a treat it wouldn't hurt him.

"Mami you're going to burn down the kitchen." Jenny said in exasperation as she watched a large flame come out of the pan on the stove.

"I know what I am doing, you just go and relax with your husband." Lydia chastised.

"We're not married." Jenny reminded her with an irritated sigh.

"Do not remind me." Lydia replied, "Four children but not married _Dios mío." _She muttered, "your _Papi_ would roll over in his grave."

"Daddy would not." Jenny replied rolling her eyes, "He knew just as well as anybody that a baby is not a good reason to get married."

Her parents had gotten married young because Jenny's mother had gotten pregnant with her, it worked for some people but it obviously hadn't worked out well for them.

"Arroz Con Pollo was your favourite food when you were a child." Lydia stated, changing the subject, "and then we will have Ropa Veija for supper tomorrow night, I must thank Gibbs again for taking me to the market."

"You really don't have to do the cooking while you're here." Jenny protested weakly.

"_Lo sé,_ but I like cooking for my family." Lydia replied, "and I do not get to do it all that often, let me do this."

"Alright, _gracias Mami." _

_"__De nada, Mija." _Lydia replied happily, "Plus I get to teach your _hija _all about how to properly cook Cuban food."

"It's interesting, Aboulita." Kelly stated, "a lot of ingredients though, I don't know how you remember it all."

"P_ráctica, práctica, práctica." _Lydia responded, waving a wooden spoon at her, "you will learn."

Jenny laughed and rolled her eyes before leaving the kitchen, she found Gibbs in the living room sitting on the floor with his back against the couch flipping the pages on a book for Ava.

"Where's Dani?" Jenny asked as she carefully dropped down beside him.

"Finishing homework and avoiding the chaos." Gibbs replied with a snort, "Where's Jake?"

"Watching the chaos unfold." Jenny laughed, "our kids are all opposites of each other."

"Yup." Gibbs agreed, "supper smells good."

"It really does." Jenny replied as her stomach voiced it's agreement, "she's making Ropa Veija tomorrow night."

"Can we keep her?" Gibbs asked.

Lydia's Ropa Veija was to die for, all of her food was good but there was something special about that particular dish.

"I wish." Jenny replied with a sigh.

Ava made a chirping sound and crawled over to Jenny. She gave her a toothy grin and reached out for Jenny's necklace. She unfastened it and handed it over to the baby, there were no beads on it and it wasn't a choking risk as long as she was right there.

"Is that shiny?" She asked, "Pretty?"

Ava squealed and thrust the necklace out towards Gibbs proudly.

"Good to know she's going to have your taste." Gibbs deadpanned.

"I have good taste." Jenny replied indignantly, "I chose you." She added seriously.

"I wouldn't brag about that." Gibbs replied with a laugh.

"I do." Jenny stated, "you are kind, caring, a great father and not to mention s_moking hot." _

"You guys are disgusting." Dani stated as she walked past them and towards the kitchen.

"Set the table!" Jenny called after her, "Jake can help you!"

"And what're you doing?" Dani muttered under her breathe.

"Hitting on your father!" Jenny replied.

Normally she would have called Dani on her sass but judging by the disgusted sound Dani made her response had had the desired affect.

"You're cruel." Gibbs whispered.

"But it's so much fun." Jenny replied with a sly grin.

Gibbs shook his head and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, he pulled her against his side and kissed the top of her head.

"This is better than a _quiet _weekend." He whispered as loud salsa music and laughter flowed out of the kitchen.

"It's pretty great." Jenny agreed, "although I'm having flashbacks to my childhood with that music."

"Yeah?" Gibbs asked.

He didn't know very much about Jenny's childhood and she didn't know a lot about his, they had never talked about those kinds of things and he wanted to know more. He just didn't want to push her.

"Lydia always started the morning with music, she would turn it on and dance while she made breakfast and packed our lunches… It drove my dad nuts at first but eventually he got used to it, she took a week off at one point and I caught my dad listening to her music in his office." Jenny recounted with a fond smile, "He would've loved this…" She added quietly.

Gibbs gently squeezed her shoulder and ran his hand up and down her arm, he wanted to know more about her father, the grandfather of his children, but he knew better than to ask. He was amazed that she had even shared that small detail, her father was normally out of bounds and off limits no matter what.

He was debating what to say to her but he was saved when Ava tossed Jenny's necklace at him before attempting to crawl into her lap. He loosened his arm from around her shoulders and watched her lean forward to help the baby.

"Are you coming to cuddle?" Jenny cooed.

He smirked as she made faces at the baby, he had been so used to seeing her colder more serious side at work that watching her fun, loving side coming out over the last six weeks was a treat for him.

"Look at your hair, you're just so sweet." Jenny cooed, "say 'look, Daddy, look how cute I am!'"

Ava gurgled and babbled as she reached out to grab Jenny's cheeks.

"She is pretty cute." Gibbs conceded seriously.

"She is isn't she?" Jenny babbled, "I just love her so much."

Gibbs snorted and ran his hand over her hair.

"You're in a cuddly mood." She stated in a normal voice.

He realized that she was right, he normally wasn't a cuddly person, it was a problem he'd had with most of his wives but with Jenny he wanted her close, he wanted to know that she was safe.

He ignored her comment and reached over to fix one of the straps on Ava's dress, the baby grabbed his finger and promptly stuck it in her mouth. He winced as she bit down and carefully extracted his finger.

"No biting, Dad." He chided gently, "I'll go get one of her toys." He offered.

He groaned as he slowly pushed himself off the ground. There were days where he hardly felt his age then there were days when he wondered why the hell Jenny would waste her time with him. Jenny glanced at him in concern but didn't say anything.

N*C*I*S

Jenny sighed in defeat as Ava spit out yet another mouthful of food, her highchair tray was a disaster and she was absolutely covered in a mixture of pureed fruit and pasta.

"Alright I give up." She muttered.

She grabbed the washcloth she had brought to the table and cleaned the baby off and wiped her tray before handing her a few toys. She turned back to her plate to find it missing, she looked around for a second and smiled when Gibbs appeared with it in his hand.

"I heated it up for you." He explained.

He put it down in front of her and kissed the top of her head before sitting down again.

"So," Lydia stated loudly, "I have an announcement to make."

The room went silent as everyone turned to face her and Jenny raised an eyebrow.

"I am moving back to Washington."

"I'm sorry, what?" Jenny asked in shock.

"I am moving back to Washington, is your hearing okay, Mija?"

"My hearing is fine, Mami." Jenny reassured her, "I was just surprised that's all, I mean that's, it's great!"

"When did you decide to move?" Gibbs asked.

"When, Jenny called and told me about los niños." Lydia responded, "I want to be closer to them and be able to help my niña out."

"We really appreciate that but you shouldn't uproot yourself, Mami."

"I am not uprooting myself, I want to be closer to _mi familia." _Lydia argued, "now enough of this, I will start the dishes."

"Mami, we can do the dishes." Jenny protested.

"No, no, you go and give _la princesa _a bath, she is filthy."

"Help your Aboulita please." Jenny said looking at all three of the kids.

Dani rolled her eyes but Jake and Kelly both nodded.

"I'll go get the water running, you finish you supper." Gibbs offered.

"Thank you."

N*C*I*S

"I'm not against it." Jenny stated quietly as she finished washing her face.

The rest of the night had been complete chaos between getting kids bathed and ready for bed amidst all of the excitement of having Lydia around. They hadn't had a minute alone to talk about Lydia's announcement until after everyone else had gone to bed.

"But it's not exactly what I had in mind when I said I wished we could keep her." She added after a minute.

She pulled her toothbrush out of the medicine cabinet and started to brush her teeth, she glared when Gibbs stepped into the bathroom and leaned against the door.

"It's not a bad thing." He reasoned.

She spit out her tooth paste and gestured to him with her toothbrush.

"Privacy."

"You're brushing your teeth." He pointed out, "and you're fully dressed."

She was in baggy plaid PJ bottoms and an a black t-shirt, she rolled her eyes but went back to brushing her teeth as he sat down on the edge of the bathtub.

"It might be nice to have her around." He stated, "and she said she wanted to help with the kids."

"Hell migh be nish." Jenny said.

"Finish brushing your teeth and _then _talk." Gibbs instructed with a smirk.

"Help might be nice." She clarified, "I just… I wanted to…"

"Do it on our own." Gibbs finished for her.

"I get why my dad needed help." Jenny said slowly, "and I don't want to admit it but somedays… Help would be nice."

"There's nothing wrong with that."

"I feel like I'm failing if I ask for help." She admitted quietly, "like I'm a bad mom."

"You're a great mom, Jen." He replied, "asking for help doesn't make you a failure, it just means you're human."

"I know… I guess you're right."

"I usually am." He pointed out smugly.

Jenny looked at him and rolled her eyes.

"Can you check and see if my hairbrush is on my nightstand?" She asked, "Jake had it earlier and I don't know where he put it."

Gibbs stood up and wandered into the bedroom, he didn't see the hairbrush anywhere but knowing Jake it was probably in a weird spot.

"I don't see it, would it be in your nightstand drawer?"

"Yeah it might be." She called back quietly.

He opened the top drawer of the nightstand and shook his head when he saw the hair brush sitting there. He lifted it out and noticed the note he had left for her the other day sitting underneath it, he lifted the note and noticed a familiar card underneath it. It was one he had made her for her thirtieth birthday, he hadn't been able to leave their safe house to get her a card so he had made her one. It was simple, white paper with an orchid sketched on the front and a simple note on the inside and he was surprised that she had bothered to keep it. He placed both papers back in the drawer and closed it, he didn't want her to know that he had seen something that was obviously private.

"Here it is." He said as he walked back into the bathroom.

"I will never be able to explain that boy." Jenny commented as she took the brush.

"Life is more interesting that way." Gibbs replied with a shrug.

"I don't think anyone has ever said that our lives were dull."

Gibbs walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, he kissed her shoulder and smirked at her in the mirror.

"No, our life isn't dull."

**Just some fun cuteness… Remember I own nothing but I love to hear from you guys! Have a great week everyone!**

**~Katie**

_Dios mío - _My god

_Hija_\- Daughter

_Mi Familia- _My Family


	5. Chapter 5

**Five**

Gibbs woke to the sound of music, it took him a minute to place the sound but when he did he recognized it as the same salsa music as the night before. It wasn't very loud, the baby monitor was quiet and he didn't hear any of the kids moving around and Jenny was still sound asleep, curled in a ball on her side of the bed. She let out a contented sigh and buried her face in the pillow, he rolled over and swung his legs over the side of the bed before standing up. He rounded the bed and pulled the blanket higher over Jenny before grabbing his hoodie off of the bench on the end of the bed and making his way downstairs.

He found Lydia sitting at the island in the kitchen a cup of coffee in her hand with the music playing quietly in the background.

"Ah, _Buenos días_, Gibbs."

"Morning." He greeted, "how'd you sleep?"

"_Muy bien." _She replied, "The bed in the guest room is very comfortable, I just cannot sleep in." She explained.

"Me either." He replied.

He walked over to the counter and poured himself a cup of coffee before taking a seat at the kitchen table. He heard footsteps overhead and two minutes later Kelly appeared in the kitchen, her hair was curled in a half up half down style, her make up was done but she was still wearing her pyjamas.

"Good morning, Dad." She greeted happily, "_Buenos días, Aboulita." _

_"__Buenos días, _Kelly." Lydia replied, tilting her cheek to accept a kiss from the teen.

"Mornin', Kel." Gibbs said between sips of coffee, "you been up for awhile?"

"Forty minutes or so, I wanted to be able to take my time getting ready." She explained, "I was going to make pancakes for breakfast, does that sound good?"

"Sounds great." Gibbs replied, "If you wanna get that started I'm going to get your mom up."

He wanted to let her sleep in longer but he knew she would appreciate time to take a shower and get ready before church uninterrupted by any of the kids. He made his way upstairs but found the bedroom empty, the door to the ensuite bathroom was shut and he heard the shower being turned on. He let himself back out of the room and checked on the three kids who were all still sleeping soundly, he paused outside the door to Jenny's office before letting himself in.

He grabbed a piece of paper out of her printer and sat down at the desk, he stared at the paper for a moment before he began to sketch. He wasn't sure what his ultimate goal was but he ended up with a rough sketch of the Eiffel Tower, he wrote the words _That was good _underneath it and folded the page in half, on the inside of the paper he wrote _This is better, ~ J._

It was cheesy and he knew it, it was out of character for him and he seriously debated just throwing it in the trash but he knew it would make Jenny smile so he gave a resigned sigh and walked back down the hall and deposited the small card on her bedside table before making his way downstairs. He didn't want to be anywhere near her when she found it.

N*C*I*S

She put the finishing touches on her hair and makeup before letting herself out of the bathroom, she would wait until after breakfast to get dressed. She had learned that lesson the hard way. She grabbed a baggy cardigan out of her closet and pulled it on over her t-shirt, she was about to leave the room when she noticed a piece of paper on her nightstand that had definitely not been there when she had gone to shower.

She saw the sketch of the Eiffel Tower on the front and smirked, she read the words underneath and her smirk changed to a soft smile, she opened the card and pressed her fingers to her lips.

She didn't know why he had done it, she didn't know what prompted the rare display of sweetness from him but she couldn't help the feeling of being loved that washed over her. She gave the note one last glance and then carefully placed it in her beside table.

She made her way downstairs and found Gibbs, Kelly and Lydia all in the kitchen. Kelly and Lydia were both working on something and Gibbs was seated at the kitchen table with a coffee in his hand. She said good morning to everyone as she walked across the room and poured herself a cup of coffee, she added a splash of cream and a bit of sugar before wandering over to Gibbs.

She placed her coffee on the table and bent down to give him a quick kiss, she laughed in surprise when he wrapped and arm around her waist and pulled her down onto his lap.

"What're you doing?" She asked through airy laughter.

"Sayin' good morning." He replied with a smirk.

"I'm too heavy for this." Jenny protested.

"Nah."

She laughed again and wrapped her arms loosely around his neck for balance before leaning in to give him another kiss.

"Good morning." She whispered as she pulled back.

"Just so we're all clear we are _still _in the room." Kelly reminded them.

Jenny waved over her shoulder dismissively and grabbed her coffee to take another sip, she went to get up but Gibbs kept his arms firmly wrapped around her waist. She shook her head and rolled her eyes but shifted so she was more comfortable.

"I mean I'm happy that you two are madly in love or whatever but I really don't need to see all of _that." _She said gesturing between the two of them.

"Have you heard anything from Ziva this weekend?" Jenny asked, breezing right past her statement.

"No." Kelly replied with a shrug.

"Have you heard from her?" Jenny asked, turning to look at Gibbs.

"No." He shrugged.

Ziva was the most independent on his team but he normally heard from her at least once over a long weekend.

"I'll give her a call before church." Jenny offered.

"Probably not a bad idea." Gibbs agreed.

N*C*I*S

Jenny opened the front door to Ziva's apartment building with the key Ziva had given her and made her way upstairs. It was unusual that Ziva didn't answer her phone but there was a good chance the Israeli woman had gone for a run and left it on the counter and hadn't called back because she knew Jenny would be in church.

She made her way up the staircase and rolled her eyes when she heard one of her security agents open the door to the stair well and position himself by the door. They wouldn't follow her right up but they were always cautious, an unnecessary caution she believed but they didn't listen to her on that matter.

She knocked on the door to Ziva's apartment and waited as she heard the lock turning.

"What are you doing here?" Ziva asked, her tone surprised but not unkind.

"I tried calling this morning, you didn't answer and we were a bit worried." Jenny explained.

Gibbs hadn't been all that concerned but she had had an off feeling all morning.

"I am fine, my cell phone is dead though." She stepped aside and allowed Jenny to enter before shutting the door behind her.

"I tried calling your house phone too." Jenny commented, pulling her jacket closer around her, "Ziva it's freezing in here!"

"Yes, I apologize, the power and subsequently the heat has been out since yesterday morning, it is just my apartment and the one next door."

"It's November, it's too cold to have no heat or power Ziva." Jenny deadpanned, "Do I want to ask how long it's going to be before he gets it fixed?"

She hated Ziva's landlord with a passion, he was lazy and took forever to get anything done.

"At least a week." Ziva replied, rolling her eyes, "He is a moron."

"I'm aware." Jenny replied, "why that long?"

"He has to order a part but it is on backorder." Ziva explained, "for once it is not him that is the problem."

"Okay, well go pack a bag." She ordered.

"For what?"

"You can't stay here without power or heat Ziva, that's insane."

"I am not a child, I will be fine." She protested.

"I'm well aware you're not a child however you're still my responsibility so go and get a bag, you're coming home with me."

"You do not have room, is your mother not in town?" Ziva reasoned.

"Lydia is in town but we still have plenty of room." Jenny replied, "so go and pack enough for the week."

Her tone wasn't demanding, she knew that wouldn't work with Ziva but it was firm enough that the other woman knew not to argue. It was the same tone she had used on Tali David when she was thirteen and had insisted she was old enough to have a boyfriend. Eli David hadn't been interested in any of his children's lives unless it was related to Mossad and Jenny had taken a special interest in both Tali and Ziva almost the moment she had met them. She had become a friend and mentor and sometimes mother to the elder David sister but had been in the role of mother more often than not with Tali.

Five minutes later Ziva returned with a duffle bag in her hand and a displeased expression on her face.

"Did you drive yourself?" Ziva asked as she locked her door.

"No, I left from church, my security team brought me." Jenny replied, "So I'll ride back with you."

"Are you sure you wish to get in the car with me?" Ziva asked with a small smirk.

"I'm used to your driving." Jenny replied with a shrug, "just try not to give my security team a heart attack."

Ziva smirked but made no promises as she followed Jenny down the stairs.

N*C*I*S

Jenny was on the verge of throwing up as they walked into the house, it had been awhile since she had ridden in a car with Ziva behind the wheel, she had forgotten just how bad she was at driving. She gestured for Ziva to take her bags upstairs and made her way into the living room, her hand resting over her churning stomach.

Gibbs looked up from his spot on the couch with a concerned expression on his face.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah…" Jenny replied weakly, "I just forgot how terrible Ziva's driving is."

She dropped down on the floor beside him, Gibbs chuckled quietly and gently pulled her down so her head was in his lap. She closed her eyes with a contended sigh as he began running his hand through her hair.

"Where are the kids?" She asked quietly.

"Kelly and Dani are in their rooms, Tobias picked Jake up at church to hang out with Em and Lydia is in her room taking a nap, Ava is down for her nap." Gibbs replied, "I asked but no one wanted anything to eat, we're just going to do an early supper."

"Mmm." Jenny moaned quietly, "Ropa Viella."

Gibbs snorted but nodded his agreement. Jenny tucked one hand under her cheek and let the other rest on his knee, she gave it a gentle squeeze.

"Is there something you would like to tell me?" Ziva asked as she walked into the living room, her eyebrow raised as she studied the pair on the couch.

"No." Jenny replied her eyes still closed, "that being said keep it to yourself, the kids and Lydia know and that's it."

"You have my word." Ziva promised, "And congratulations."

"Thank you." Jenny replied, "do you want something to eat?"

"No thank you, I am think I am going to read for a bit."

"Okay, is your stuff in Kelly's room?"

"Yes I have thanked her for letting me stay." Ziva replied.

"Lydia is leaving tomorrow morning so you can have your room back then." Gibbs said.

"She's what?" Jenny asked in surprise.

"She said she wants to get home so she can pack everything." Gibbs explained, "She's hoping to be back in the next couple of weeks."

Jenny propped herself up on her elbow and nodded.

"You know where everything is, help yourself to food or whatever."

"Okay." Ziva replied, "I will be in the den so you can go back to whatever you were doing." She added with a small smirk.

"We weren't doing anything." Jenny protested.

"Sure you were not." Ziva called over her shoulder.

Jenny sighed and shook head before dropping it back to Gibbs knee. She shifted to get comfortable and nuzzled her nose against his thigh as he ran his hand over her hair.

**More adorableness and a bit of Ziva for good measure… Last nights episode was… WOW… So so well done, I have been having serious Slibbs withdrawal so I am a much happier person now even if none of their scenes were really cutesy we got a good dose of hinting that there's more going on there… I promise Pushing the Limits is still alive however I am having major writers block right now so it may be a bit longer before I update again… I figured most of the Spanish in this chapter is self explanatory so no translations this time… I own nothing but love to hear from you guys! **

**~Katie**

**PS If Gibbs seems a bit OOC in this chapter I apologize, I hesitated about that note/sketch thing but I feel like this would be a small gesture he would make, small romance seems to be his thing so I went with it. **


	6. Chapter 6

Six

Saying goodbye to Lydia had been harder than she had anticipated, even for a short period of time. In the two day span Lydia had been with them Jenny had realized how much she had missed having the woman in her life.

She laid Ava down in her crib and ran her hand over the baby's chest, she had gone down for her nap surprisingly easy. Her teeth had been bothering her for the last week but it wasn't as bad as when her two bottom teeth had come through.

She made sure the blinds in the nursery were down enough that the light wouldn't disturb Ava before making her way out of the nursery and down the hall to her office.

As much as she wanted to just enjoy her last day off she had a couple of hours of paperwork to catch up on while Ava was napping. Gibbs had gone to the doctors to get the final restrictions lifted before he could be fully ready for field work, even though he had been doing it unauthorized for the past two weeks anyway. The kids were in school and Ziva had gone to the gym half an hour earlier.

She took a sip of her now cold coffee and tried to make herself as comfortable as possible in the stiff desk chair, she pulled her sweater tighter around her and made a mental note to get a space heater. The house was updated enough but the heating still left something to be desired in a few of the rooms, especially the ones on the corners of the house.

She loved her home office, it was significantly smaller than her old office so she'd had to buy new furniture, she's gone with a simple black desk and black bookshelves. Despite the dark furniture the office was modern yet homey, she had pictures of her sister and niece on the wall as well as pictures of the kids, her first team, Ziva and her in Israel, and a picture of Gibbs' team from a training exercise.

She pushed her glasses up on her nose and turned to her files.

Gibbs found her in her office, one hand massaging her temple and the other trailing a pen across the page, an hour later. Her glasses were perched on the edge of her nose and there were papers scattered all around her.

"Can you remind Tony to spell check his reports before he sends them in?" She asked without looking up from the file.

"I thought I checked it before I sent it in." Gibbs replied, his voice unapologetic, "Also thought that was Leon's job now."

"Leon's job is to oversee any major decisions regarding your team, signing off on case reports is still my problem, however now that my every move is being scrutinized your team needs to step it up with editing, please and thank you."

"I'll talk to them about it." He promised, "want another coffee?"

"I finished the pot." She replied.

"I'll make fresh." He offered, "I want some anyway."

"Thanks."

She wasn't trying to be anti-social but she only had half an hour before the kids got home from school and even less time before Ava woke up to finish the last five files in her pile and she didn't want to spend that time talking to Gibbs when she could finish and then spend the afternoon with him and the kids.

Gibbs grabbed her empty mug off of the desk and made his way downstairs to the kitchen, he deposited the mug in the sink and started a fresh pot of coffee. The coffee was just starting to filter into the glass pot when he heard Ava's small cry from the baby monitor he had stolen off of Jenny's desk. He made his way up the stairs as quickly as possible so Jenny wouldn't get up, when he made it to the nursery Jenny's office door was still only slightly ajar, he let himself into the nursery and scooped Ava out of the crib.

The baby whimpered for a moment until she realized it was Gibbs holding her and then broke out into a wide grin. He quickly changed her wet diaper and buttoned her back into her pink onesie before making his way back downstairs.

He placed Ava in her bouncy chair and poured himself and Jenny a cup of coffee, he left his mug on the counter, picked up Ava in his free arm and brought the coffee up the stairs. He let himself into the office and placed Jenny's mug on her desk.

"Thank you." She said, "I didn't even ask how your doctors appointment was."

"Fully cleared for duty." He replied.

She looked up at him with a smile and reached up to brush her finger over Ava's cheek.

"I'll keep an eye on her, you finish this up." He offered.

"Wait." She said when he turned to leave, "Come here." She ordered, gesturing with her finger.

She reached up and gently grabbed the front of his shirt, she pulled him down and claimed his lips in a short kiss.

Gibbs pulled back and stood up when Ava let out a small noise of protest against his chest, he chuckled and shifted her so she would be more comfortable.

"Get back to work." He ordered gently, "I'm gonna go make snacks."

"Look at you go Mister Mom." She teased as he disappeared out of the office.

N*C*I*S

Kelly stepped off of the school bus and adjusted her backpack as she walked towards the house, Dani followed shortly behind, her nose buried in her phone and Jake was already up to the door, his small chest heaving with effort having sprinted down the long driveway.

"If you don't look up you're going to fall." She warned, glancing over her shoulder at Dani who just waved her off.

She rolled her eyes and pulled out her own phone, she smiled at the message on the screen but quickly hid her phone when she saw Dani catching up with her.

"If you don't look up you're going to fall." Dani mocked.

Kelly rolled her eyes again and picked up her pace, she had never had a foster sister that was that close in age to her and as much as she loved Dani sometimes she wished the younger teen was slightly less of a pain in the ass.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket but she ignored it, she dropped her bag on the floor when she entered the house and pulled off her boots. She followed the sound of excited chatter coming from the kitchen and found Jake telling Gibbs about his day while eating apple slices and a cookie.

"Hey, Dad."

She took the plate he offered her and munched on a piece of apple while she listened to Jake's story about his gym class.

"And how was your day?" Gibbs asked when Jake was finally done.

"It was fine, I have a lot of homework though, I think I'm going to head up and get started on that."

"Okay, your mom is in her office doing paper work, so if you're going to listen to music wear your ear thingies."

"Earbuds." She supplied.

She gave him a peck on the cheek and grabbed her backpack from the table.

In her room she tossed her bag by her desk and threw herself down onto her bed and pulled out her phone.

**M: **So are you up for a movie tonight?

**K: **I'm not sure, I haven't talked to my parents about it, I just don't want to remind my dad of everything.

She had run into Mitch at the market with Gibbs and Lydia on Saturday, it had been a quick encounter, barely long enough for them to exchange numbers but they had been texting back and forth since then. It had been twelve years since she had seen him but she had recognized him immediately, his dark brown hair and brown eyes ordinary to anyone else but striking and familiar to her. She had thought about him off and on over the last twelve years but hadn't been able to do anything about it, she'd had to cut ties with everyone after the accident. Thoughts of her parents, grandparents and family had been mixed with thoughts about Mitch and his mother and everything they had lost in the same accident that had cost her everything.

She didn't really mind bringing the topic up with Jenny, but she didn't want to remind her father of what he had lost and talking about Mitch and the role he and his family had played in her life while Gibbs had been deployed would only serve as a painful reminder.

Another chime brought her out of her reverie and she looked down at her phone with a small sigh.

**M: **All good, I get it :)

She shot back a quick reply and moved over to her desk to get a head-start on the mountain of homework she had to do. She only looked up half an hour later when there was a quiet knock on her door, she called out an invitation to enter and smiled when Jenny appeared in the doorway.

"Heya." She greeted with a grin, "I heard you were also buried under a mountain of papers, did you manage to escape?"

"Oh yeah." Jenny replied, "There are still a few things I'll have to finish up when you guys go to bed but the mountain is more of a molehill now."

"I'm sure if you wanted to finish it now Dad could keep an eye on the baby, or I can take break and watch her." She offered.

"No, you finish your homework, I want to spend some time with you guys, my stuff will can wait until later, I can always do it at work tomorrow."

"Alright, I think we all have a good amount of homework though, Dani said she would be busy until supper and Jake spent most of the bus ride home pouting about his math."

"Your brother is always pouting about his math." Jenny pointed out, "I'll go down and check on him, do you need anything?"

Kelly opened her mouth to answer as her phone began to buzz on her desk, she lifted it for a moment and then placed it back face down.

"Do you want to get that?" Jenny asked with a raised eyebrow.

"It's just a text." Kelly replied quickly, "I'll get it later." She added, her voice more calm.

Jenny raised her eyebrow again but didn't comment on the blush that was now spreading out over Kelly's freckled nose.

"I don't need anything." She said after a moment, "I'm just going to try and get through most of this before dinner."

"Alright." Jenny replied, "I'll call you when it's ready."

N*C*I*S

Jenny pulled the blanket tighter around her to fight off the chill in the November air, she and Gibbs were seated in the lone Adirondack chair left on the back deck enjoying a cup of coffee after dinner. He was seated behind her and her back was resting against his chest, his arms were around her waist and his coffee mug was resting in her lap.

"You don't get a view like that in the city." She commented quietly.

Her eyes were trained on the bright stars above her, she knew it would be even clearer farther in the country but she definitely wouldn't get that view from her brownstone either.

"No you don't." Gibbs agreed quietly.

She turned to look back at him and found his eyes fixated on her, she rolled her eyes and let out a soft laugh.

"Cheesy." She commented.

"True." He countered.

She tilted her head and gently pressed her lips to his, she placed her mug down on the deck and grabbed his from his hand without pulling away from the kiss, she placed it down on the deck and shifted in his arms. She felt him shift beneath her to allow her to position herself between his legs, he dropped one leg down so that she could kneel between his legs, one hand placed behind his neck and the other against his chest to balance her. She felt one of his hands wrap around her waist and the other tangle in her hair.

She tried to deepen the kiss but he slowly pulled back, dropping a few pecks on her lips as he slowed the kiss.

"Gotta slow down." He whispered.

He brushed her hair back from her face and dropped a featherlight kiss to the side of her neck.

"Kids could walk out." He added.

He had nothing against what she was trying to do, he knew it couldn't lead anywhere but he was happy to just kiss and be close with her. However he really didn't want to have to explain to Jake why Jenny was in his lap kissing him senseless.

She groaned and dropped her head to his shoulder but didn't protest. She twisted back around and settled herself back against his chest. He wrapped his arms around her waist and clasped his hands over her stomach.

"Ready to go back to work tomorrow?"

"Wow…" She said slowly, "you really wanted to kill the mood, but yes, I have another maybe thirty minutes of paperwork to do after the kids go to bed though."

"Okay, I'll shower and fold that last load of laundry while you do that." He replied.

He dropped a kiss to her shoulder and tightened his arms around her waist.

"It was a good weekend." He muttered, breathing in the scent of their laundry detergent and her shampoo.

"Yes, it was." She agreed quietly.

**Just some fun cuteness… Remember I own nothing but I love to hear from you guys! Have a great weekend everyone!**

**~Katie**


	7. Chapter 7

Seven

Jenny leaned back into her large office chair relishing the silence surrounding her. She loved having weekends off and enjoyed the chaos of their household but a few minutes of silence here and there never hurt anyone. She had just set her bag down beside her desk and fallen into the chair, ready to start her day when there was a knock on her door.

"Good morning, Director. It's good to have you back." Cynthia greeted, poking her head in the door, "I just wanted to let you know that Special Agent Gibbs somehow got in here and was sneaking out as I was coming in, I checked and it doesn't look like he touched anything."

"I am sure I will find out what he was up to soon enough." Jenny rolled her eyes.

She had locked her office before leaving for the weekend but she didn't doubt that Gibbs had found a way in. She nodded when Cynthia excused herself and looked around the room for any sign of a disturbance, finding none she opened her desk drawer to get started on her paperwork for the day. _And there it is_ she thought to herself when she saw the single white rose and small note in the drawer, she pulled both out with a soft smile and flipped the note over there was a sketch of a tree on the front of the paper and when she flipped it open a small note.

_5o days, I'm proud of you._

_~J_

The note made her tear up a bit, she was surprised that he had remembered something she had only mentioned in passing over two weeks ago when she had hit her thirty day sober mark. She put the note back in the drawer to keep it safe and promised herself that she would do something special for Gibbs to show him how much she appreciated him.

N*C*I*S

Kelly closed the door to her locker and hitched her backpack over her shoulder, she checked her phone for the time and bit her lip anxiously as she made her way out to her car. Dani and Jake would take the bus home, she had already talked to Jenny about going out and Jenny had okayed it without question. She had asked what she was planning to do and she had replied hanging out with a friend and Jenny hadn't questioned it. She almost felt guilty for not being one hundred percent honest, she was hanging out with a friend but it definitely wasn't the friend Jenny had just assumed she would be with.

She pulled out of the school parking lot and cranked up the radio, it was only a five minute drive to the library but she hated driving without music. She pulled into the library parking lot and waved when she spotted Mitch a few spots over doing something in the backseat of his car.

She unbuckled and grabbed her backpack out of the passenger seat before making her way across the parking lot. She paused when she saw Mitch step back from his car a smiling toddler in his arms. Her long light-brown hair was pulled up into two curly ponytails on the top of her head, she was dressed in a pink puffy jacket and bluejeans with pink boots.

"Hey!" Mitch greeted her, "I'm sorry I couldn't find a sitter."

"Hi." Kelly replied with a smile, "It's all good, and who's this?"

"Stella." Mitch paused, "My daughter, who I'm just now realizing I didn't mention, did I?"

"No." Kelly replied her mind reeling, "Hi, Stella, it's nice to meet you, I'm Kelly."

The toddler waved shyly and buried her face in Mitch's neck, Kelly was proud of herself for how quickly she had outwardly rebounded from that surprise but on the inside she had more questions than she had time to ask.

"You ready to head inside?" She asked, nodding towards the huge library, "It's chilly out here."

Inside Kelly led the way to the tables right next to the kids section, there was a large area filled with bean bag chairs and quiet toys for Stella to play with.

"I'm really sorry." Mitch said quietly, "I had a babysitter lined up but she canceled on me last minute."

"It's really fine." Kelly replied honestly, "I was a bit surprised that you… you know, had a daughter but having her along really doesn't bother me."

She loved kids and it wasn't like they were on a _date_ or anything, they were just two friends hanging out, it didn't really make a difference if Stella was there or not.

"I just didn't realize you were seeing anyone."

They had never really talked about family or relationships in the last few days, aside from asking how their respective parents were doing.

"I'm not." Mitch replied with a shrug, "I made some bad choices in high-school, Emma, my ex, didn't want anything to do with being a mom so I got sole custody of Stella and that was the end of that."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be, it was hard at first but we're doing fine now." Mitch replied, "My mom helps out a lot and it helps that my work and school schedules are flexible."

She knew that he was in his second year of Poli-Sci at Georgetown and that he worked as a TA and did tutoring on the side. He was in school on a full scholarship, but used work to compensate for rent and things that he and Stella needed.

"She's a cute kid." Kelly commented.

Stella had wandered off and was seated in the middle of the carpet of the kids area about ten feet away from them, a stack of oversized Legos spread out in front of her.

"Thanks, she's a good kid too" Mitch added, "she listens really well and is really sweet."

"You're proud of her." Kelly supplied with a smile.

"Oh yeah, it wasn't easy but I wouldn't change it for the world." Mitch agreed, "what about you? Are you happy with how things turned out?"

"Oh yeah." Kelly replied softly, "I love my Dad and Jenny is amazing, Dani can be a pain in the butt sometimes but I love her and Jake and Ava are adorable. I still miss my mom some days but overall I'm happy with how things are, it helps that my dad is happy, he and Jenny are sickeningly in love."

"So no evil step-mother then." Mitch stated with a grin.

"No way." Kelly replied, remembering how many times they had watched Disney movies as children, the evil step-mothers were the bane of Kelly's existence back then. "Jenny is the best Step-Mom I could have asked for, and it's not like they even do the _step_ parent thing, we're just their kids and that's it."

She had just finished her sentence when she felt something land in her lap, she looked down to see Stella standing in front of her and _If you Give a Mouse a Cookie _sitting in her lap.

"Read, please."

Kelly raised an eyebrow and smiled before lifting Stella and settling her in her lap.

"Alright, let's read."

**Who is this mysterious Mitch? I'm so excited for tomorrow's episode…. THE WALL OF WIVES IS BACK Y'ALL! I hope everyone enjoyed but I own nothing sadly… I love to hear from you guys and your reviews make my day! And since no one guessed and I completely forgot about it this title is from Ducky's toast in 'Child's Play'.**

**~Katie**


	8. Chapter 8

Eight

Jenny was just lifting her bag off of her desk when there was a knock on her open office door.

"Are you going home?" Ziva asked, leaning against the door frame.

"Yes, are you ready to leave too or are you staying a bit longer?"

"I am ready to leave, Gibbs will be another half an hour though, he said he wishes to finish checking our reports."

Jenny smiled as she remembered their conversation the day before, Gibbs really was going above and beyond to make her life as easy as possible.

"I have to pick Ava up at the daycare but if you're ready you can ride home with us." Jenny offered.

Gibbs had driven himself and Ava in that morning while Ziva and Jenny had carpooled.

"I will grab my belongings and meet you in the garage." Ziva paused in the doorway and nodded towards the rose in Jenny's hands. "Where did that come from?"

Jenny felt her cheeks warm up and silently cursed being a redhead.

"Gibbs left it in my desk drawer this morning."

"Romantic." Ziva teased.

"He has his moments."

He had always been a bit romantic but he had been pulling out all of the stops in the last few days.

"Go get your stuff." Jenny ordered with a laugh when Ziva opened her mouth to respond.

She slung her bag over her shoulder and followed Ziva out of the office, pausing to lock the door as she went.

"Can I speak to you for a minute, Director?" Leon called as they walked past his office, "in private please." He added when Ziva paused.

"If you give me your keys and I will go pick up the baby and start the car." Ziva offered.

Jenny handed over her keys and stepped into Leon's office before shutting the door behind her.

"I got an interesting call from Eli David today." Leon started.

"Oh?"

"He was requesting that Officer David return to Tel-Aviv for a week at the end of the month." He said, "I didn't approve anything, I wanted to pass it by you first."

"No." Jenny replied instantly.

Eli David had never shown any interest in his daughter unless it was work related and she doubted that had changed now. She was not sending Ziva back into the lions den without backup.

"We could keep Special Agent Burley on to help handle the caseload in Officer David's absence." Leon suggested.

"It's not about caseload." Jenny replied, "Eli David always has an agenda, you know that better than anyone else."

She knew that Leon and Eli had worked together before and still maintained some semblance of a friendship, it wasn't a widely known fact but much like her past relationship with Gibbs it was an open secret.

"I do." Leon conceded, "And you don't trust him." He guessed.

"No I don't, I spent a lot of years living and working in close proximity to Eli David and I don't trust him with Officer David."

"So it's personal then."

"No, Officer David is a valuable asset to our agency and we cannot utilize her if she dies in a suicide mission for Mossad." Jenny replied.

The thing was that it _was_ personal but she wasn't about to tell Leon that.

"And you think that's what this is?" Leon asked.

"Well it's definitely not a family vacation." Jenny replied sarcastically, "Eli isn't exactly pleased that Ziva is still here but he's not willing to argue it with me, it hasn't been important enough to him until recently and I'm not risking sending her back."

"And if he asks why I'm denying the request?" Leon asked.

"Tell him to call me." Jenny replied with a shrug, "he knows what our agreement is."

"Alright." He agreed, "but I don't think he's going to be happy."

"I have _never_ in my life cared if what I was doing was making Eli David happy." Jenny replied dryly, "he has an entire agency of people he pays to make him happy, I am no longer one of those people."

Leon raised an eyebrow at her small rant but wisely didn't say anything.

"Is there anything else?" Jenny asked, readjusting the strap on her bag.

"No." Leon replied, "I'll call Eli back and let him know what's going on, I assume he has your number to contact you?"

"He does." Jenny replied with a nod, "Have a good night, Leon."

"You too."

She let herself out of the office and made her way downstairs, she saw Gibbs glance up from his desk to where she was walking on the catwalk and gave him a nod and an almost imperceptible smile. He smirked back quickly before returning to his paperwork.

N*C*I*S

Kelly shut the front door behind her quietly, the house was silent but she knew Jenny, Gibbs and Ziva would probably still be awake. It was already after 2230 so chances were Jake and the baby were already in bed.

"Hey, Kel." Jenny called out quietly from the living room, "did you have fun?"

"Yeah we had a good time." Kelly replied, trying to ignore the guilt building in the corner of her mind.

Gibbs was seated on one end of the couch a book in one hand while Jenny was laying down with her feet in Gibbs' lap, his free hand resting on her calf.

"Did you eat?" Gibbs asked from his spot beside Jenny.

"Yes, I think I'm going to go and grab a shower and head to bed."

She gave them both a quick hug and kiss on the cheek before escaping up the stairs. Jenny waited until she heard the bathroom door shut upstairs before turning to Gibbs.

"Was that weird?" She asked.

"A bit." Gibbs replied with a shrug, "She might just be tired, do you know who she was out with?"

"She said a friend, I just assumed it was Sandy or Maddie." Jenny replied.

Kelly and Maddie Tyler had been almost inseparable since they had been reunited two weekends prior, Maddie had been out of town until the day before and Jenny had just assumed they had met up after being apart for three days.

"You didn't ask?" Gibbs asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No…" Jenny replied slowly, "She said she was going to the library and then out to dinner, I trust her."

"She's probably just tired." Gibbs said again with another shrug.

He wasn't thrilled that he didn't know exactly where his daughter had been but he trusted Kelly and he trusted Jenny's judgement. He knew that Kelly was responsible and wouldn't get herself involved in something she shouldn't.

"Leon got an interesting call from Eli David today." Jenny said after a moment of silence.

Gibbs' hand tightened on her calf and she looked up at him with a raised eyebrow, his opinion of the man was even lower than hers and that was saying something.

"He wants Ziva to go back to Israel for a week at the end of the month."

"What did Vance say?"

"He talked to me about it before he said anything, I said absolutely not." Jenny replied, "I haven't told Ziva yet."

"It was the right call." Gibbs commented.

"If she goes back to him I doubt she'll come back." Jenny said, "If he would let her come back." She added quietly.

"If he would let her live." Gibbs stated darkly.

Jenny shot him a warning look but he just shrugged.

"You know it's a fact, Jen."

"I know…" Jenny replied with a sigh, she ran her hands over her face wearily, "I just hate that it's a fact, I hate that he parents like that."

"He doesn't parent." Gibbs countered, "That's the point."

"It's a waste." Jenny whispered, "three smart kids, three sweet kids turned into… Tali shouldn't…"

Her voice cracked and Gibbs gave her calf a reassuring squeeze, he didn't know anything about her time with Mossad, he barely knew anything about Tali but judging by the way her lip quivered as she ran her hands over her face again they had been close. Everything in him wanted to debate the fact that Ari Haswari had been _sweet _but he knew it wasn't the time nor the place.

"Ziva is an amazing person but he still has this control over her… I don't want to give him the chance to ruin her life, Tali and Ari… It should have never happened, Jethro… It was preventable… I know you're not Ari's biggest fan but he wasn't always like that."

Gibbs gave her calf a squeeze but didn't respond, he couldn't agree with her but he wouldn't argue with her either. She rested her hands on her forehead and closed her eyes to compose herself.

"I just don't want to be in this damn battle for custody of her anymore." Jenny muttered, "She's twenty-five years old, she's an adult and we're still doing this shit."

He put down his book and gently massaged the foot that was in his lap.

"Promise me we won't ever do this with our kids… It's not fair to us or to the kids."

"I'm not planning on us separating." Gibbs reassured her, "we made this work before we were together and I'm sure we could do it after if we need to… But I'm not planning on having an after."

"I'm not either… I just don't want to do this with you, our kids have been through enough without dealing with this."

"I know."

"Ziva's been through so much, she's lost almost everyone she loves but she's so strong and Eli can't see how amazing she is." Jenny whispered, "I don't think _she_ sees how amazing she is…"

"But we see it." Gibbs reminded her, "our kids see it, eventually she'll see it."

"I hope so." Jenny replied with a sigh.

Gibbs gave her foot another reassuring squeeze, pressing his fingers firmly into the arch of her foot. He smirked when she moaned quietly and let her head roll back against the arm of the couch.

"Best boyfriend ever." She muttered.

"Boyfriend?" Gibbs asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Partner?" Jenny corrected, opening one eye to look at him, "boyfriend is too 'high school'"

"I like either." Gibbs replied with a shrug, "we just never talked about it."

Truth be told he would prefer partner but he really didn't care about the term that much, all that mattered to him was that they were together and happy.

"I like partner better." Jenny decided, closing her eyes again.

Gibbs snorted and went back to massaging her feet.

**Last nights episode was… WOW…. We're getting a bit more into Ziva, I hope everyone enjoyed this, I own nothing but I love to hear from you guys!**

**~Katie**


	9. Chapter 9

Nine

There were a lot of things that Jenny Shepard hated about her job but cases involving children were at the top of her list. She hung up her phone and ran her hands over her face in frustration. When Gibbs' team had received the call about their latest case they hadn't known a child was involved, but when they had arrived on the scene they had found out otherwise. Gibbs was on his way back with the child now, he hadn't said much on the phone only that a marine had shot and killed his wife and had disappeared leaving the child behind. He hadn't given her an age or name, all she knew was that it was a little boy. The only thing reeling through her mind were pictures of Jake in the back of a cop car scared out of his mind.

One of the other teams had had a case with a child the week prior and Jenny had felt it hard then as well, her mind falling back to her own kids but she strongly suspected that this one would be even worse since it would no doubt be affecting Gibbs as well. She tried to focus on paperwork until she got another call from Gibbs letting her know he was just pulling into the parking lot.

She knew he would probably appreciate some help with the boy so she closed off of everything on her computer and locked her office up before making her way down to the squad-room. She was just stepping off of the stairs when the doors to the main elevator opened. Her heart dropped into her stomach when she saw him carrying a small toddler. He couldn't have been more than a year and a half old with dirty, matted, blond hair and bright blue eyes. She let out a sad sigh and stepped towards Gibbs, the look on his face was neutral but she could see the pain in his eyes.

"Hey." He greeted quietly.

"Hi." She responded, "and who are you?" She asked, her voice softening even further.

The toddler cowered and leaned closer to Gibbs and away from Jenny.

"This is Caleb." Gibbs responded, "Caleb this is Jenny."

Caleb opened and closed his hand in a shy wave and Jenny smiled and waved back.

"Caleb would you like a snack?" Jenny asked.

The toddler shook his head in the negative but seemed to be more interested in Jenny now that he wasn't so afraid. His eyes were still darting around the bright room nervously.

"Why don't we go and see if we can find something for you to watch?" She suggested, "distract him until we know more." She added for Gibbs' benefit.

He nodded and lead the way over to his desk, Jenny let him sign on to his computer before taking a seat and pulling up YouTube. She found a kid friendly video and turned it on, Gibbs tried to place Caleb down but he hung on firmly and started to whimper as soon as he thought Gibbs was leaving him. Gibbs shrugged and sat down in his desk chair, settling Caleb in his lap.

"Have you called CPS?" Jenny asked quietly.

"D'Arcy's on her way in now." Gibbs replied, "I don't know what the plan is but unless we find his father I want him in protective custody."

She nodded and perched on the edge of his desk, her eyes strayed to the bulletin board behind his desk where there was an old crayon drawing Kelly had done when she was about four, there was a drawing of a house and a dog from Jake tacked up next to it and a sketch of flower Kelly had done more recently. There were no family photo's up but Gibbs had his own way of keeping his kids close to him during the day. They were still cautious about who they shared information with but at that point the kids were something of an open secret, people saw them taking turns dropping Ava off at daycare, she knew the rumour mill was running at full speed but no one had had the balls to actually ask the question outright. Jenny had put a framed photo of the kids on her desk, none of Gibbs or his team lest it look like she was playing favourites but at that point she didn't see the harm in having one picture of her kids in her office. The picture was on her desk next to the one of her father and wasn't really visible to guests anyway.

"Does that mean he's coming home with us?" Jenny asked quietly.

Gibbs took in a deep breath and seemed to be debating it, she knew he wasn't overly concerned about security, her agents were always posted outside and no one would be at any greater risk than they normally were. They had the room to some degree, with Ziva still staying with them it might be a bit chaotic but they could definitely make it work short term. She was more concerned with how Kelly and Dani might react to another person under the age of two in the house.

"How old is he?" Jenny asked suddenly.

"Twenty-two months." Gibbs replied.

"He's small for his age." She commented.

"M-O-M was small." Gibbs replied, "but I think there may have been a bit of neglect, M-O-M was beaten pretty badly and I noticed a few scrapes and bruises on him when the Ducky did a quick check… There wasn't a lot of kids stuff anywhere either, I got a few changes of clothes but most of everything was too small or worn out."

"Poor little man." Jenny whispered.

Caleb's eyes were glued to the computer screen, his fist was pressed against his lips but he looked more tense than a normal toddler would, almost as if he was waiting for something to happen. Gibbs reached up to brush his hair back but Caleb flinched away and whimpered. Jenny closed her eyes and bit her lip at the sight. When she opened her eyes Gibbs was gently running his hand up and down Caleb's arm whispering gently to the little boy. His wide blue eyes were swimming with tears but none had spilled over and he seemed to be calming down.

Gibbs looked up at her and his eyes flashed angrily, she knew what was going through his head, it was the same thought going through her mind. _Why can some people have children and not appreciate them when others fight so hard to have a family. _They had fought so hard to have their family, they had fought so _long _to have their family and then there were people who just threw it all away for nothing.

"Why don't we go up to my office for now." She suggested, "get him away from all of the noise."

"Sure."

Up in her office they settled Caleb on the floor by her couch, luckily she'd had a few stray toys in her purse from Ava for him to play with. Jenny sat on the floor with her back against the couch and Gibbs sat above her on the couch, one hand gently massaging the back of her neck.

N*C*I*S

When Leon Vance walked into Jenny's office to look for an update on Gibbs' latest case, he expected to find her at her desk reading over files not sitting on the floor, her head resting on Gibbs' knee with a child in her lap reading from a small book. Gibbs hand was resting on her back of her neck and Leon could see his thumb moving up and down absentmindedly as he listened to Jenny create a story to go with the book.

"Makes quite the picture." He stated.

Jenny's head flew off of Gibbs' knee so fast he was sure she had hurt her neck but Gibbs didn't move his hand. The child in Jenny's lap pressed back against her and folded his legs up against his body.

"You're okay." Jenny whispered, running her hand over his dirty hair, "He's a bit wary of strangers." Jenny warned him.

"I can see that." Leon replied.

He took two steps forward before squatting down.

"I'm Leon." He said, his voice as gentle and non-threatening as possible, "and you must be…" He looked up when Jenny mouthed the name to him, "Caleb." He finished, hoping he had interpreted that right.

Caleb gave him a wary glance but seemed to relax a bit, he still had a firm hold on Jenny's hand and didn't make a move to release it.

"I just go a call from security, the CPS worker is here and on her way up." He informed them just as there was a knock on the open office door.

"There's my favourite couple." D'Arcy greeted with a wide smile, "and you sir must be Caleb."

Caleb looked between Jenny and D'Arcy with wide, confused eyes. Jenny handed the toddler over to Gibbs and pulled herself off the ground, dusting off her pants as she did so.

"So what're we looking at, Gibbs?" D'Arcy asked as she took a seat at the conference table in Jenny's office.

"D-A-D is missing and M-O-M is D-E-A-D." Gibbs replied.

"D-A-D at fault?" D'Arcy asked.

"Looks like it." Gibbs replied, "His G-U-N was used and there were definite signs of abuse on M-O-M's body."

"And on him?" D'Arcy asked, nodding to Caleb.

"A few scrapes and bruises." Gibbs supplied

"I'd like him to have a full physical with a paediatrician." D'Arcy stated, "what's your game plan?"

"Protective custody, at least until D-A-D is found." Gibbs replied.

"Do you have an agent in mind?"

Gibbs looked over at Jenny, she gave him a small nod and folded her hands on the table.

"We can take him." He replied, "no one else on the team knows how to take care of a kid."

"Officer David?" D'Arcy asked.

"Is staying with us right now." Jenny replied slowly, "so she's out of the running and I trust them with my own children but I don't think DiNozzo or McGee are exactly fit for this job."

"Are you sure it won't be too much for you? You'll have two under two and two teenage girls."

"And our seven year old." Jenny added with a smirk, "We'll be fine, a little chaos is good for the soul."

"Alright… As long as you're sure it won't be too much."

"We'll be fine." Jenny replied, "it's not our first rodeo with this type of thing."

Never-mind their own children they had done enough rounds of protective custody to know the dance by heart.

"And that's why you're my favourite team to do this with." D'Arcy informed her, "however you've always been at least four and up, you've never worked with a child this age, barring your own children of course."

"What do we need to do?" Jenny asked.

"I want a physical with a paediatrician in the next twenty-four hours, we'll need to do an inventory of clothes and belongings to insure that he has everything he needs."

"He barely has any clothes, most of it was too small or worn out." Gibbs interjected, "only a few toys and those were pretty ratty too."

"Maybe you can do a bit of shopping?" D'Arcy asked, looking at Jenny hopefully, "or I can go after this and pick up a few things."

"I can do it." Jenny replied, "as long as Leon is okay filling in for me for a few hours."

"I can do that." Vance stated.

"If Gibbs can come with me to the paediatrician we can get that done while you grab whatever he may need." D'Arcy suggested.

"DiNozzo can handle things here." Gibbs replied, shifting Caleb in his lap.

Jenny looked over at Caleb and let out a sad sigh at the sight of the dirty toddler.

"I don't know how you do this everyday." She muttered.

"I hate days like today." D'Arcy replied, "I hate seeing people throw away families when other people try so hard just to have one." She looked between Jenny and Gibbs who shared a glance. "But then there are days when I get to go to families like yours, people who fought like hell for years just to be able to have kids and it makes it all worth it. Watching court cases go in favour of the families who deserve children, the look on your faces when I put Ava in your arms for the first time, that's why I do this."

Jenny looked over at Gibbs when she felt his free hand come to rest on her thigh, she gave him a small smile and he gently squeezed her thigh.

"It's also nice to see the families rally together." D'Arcy added, "your boy stopped me when I walked in the door and asked me to check in with you two."

"Which one?" Gibbs asked in surprise.

"Tony, he was worried about how you would both handle this case, it's just another reason why I love working with your family, no matter how old they are your kids always seem to band together and put family first."

Jenny saw the small but proud smirk on Gibbs' face as D'Arcy spoke about the man she knew he thought of as a son.

"We're proud of _all _of our kids." She stated.

"You have a lot to be proud of." D'Arcy replied, "and I want to see pictures and hear all about how they're doing but first I want to get this little man to the doctors."

N*C*I*S

Jenny dropped the last bag on the ground in the living room, she had done a major shopping run for Ava right before they had brought her home but she had honestly forgotten how much stuff babies and toddlers needed. The ten or so plastic bags filled with sippy cups, toys and clothes surrounding her were a testament to that, not to mention the play pen she had deposited in the corner. She would move it up to their bedroom and have Gibbs set it up as soon as he got home.

He had called her twenty minutes prior to let her know he was on his way from the doctors office and that although there were small signs of physical abuse there was nothing overly serious physically wrong with the toddler. She began to unbox everything she had bought, she hadn't bought any books because they had more than enough kids books laying around but she had bought a few toys and toddler specific craft supplies on top of clothes, diapers and other necessary items that they didn't already have.

She glanced at her watch and saw that it was already 1430, the kids would be home from school in an hour. She heard the front door open and shut. She poked her head out of the living-room to find Gibbs kneeling in the foyer undoing Caleb's shoes.

"How did the doctors visit go?" She asked.

"Good, he listened really well."

"Were you a good boy?" Jenny asked, offering Caleb a proud smile.

"Good!" Caleb exclaimed, holding up his hand where a gold star was prominently displayed.

Jenny offered him her hand and led him into the living room, she watched his eyes widen as he took in the toys and the large room.

"His house was a disaster." Gibbs whispered in her ear, "you could barely walk in a straight line."

No wonder the large, bright, clean space would be shocking for the toddler. Things were a bit disorganized with all of the shopping bags but otherwise clean.

"I got him so toys for the tub, I thought I'd give him a bath and then see if maybe I could get him to take a nap if you can set up the playpen in our room."

"No problem." Gibbs replied, "once he's settled I'm gonna run in and check on the team and pick up Ava at the daycare."

"You can head out as soon as you set up that thing if you want." Jenny offered, "we'll be fine here."

**I hope everyone enjoyed this, I own nothing but I love to hear from you guys!**

**~Katie**


	10. Chapter 10

Ten

By the time Kelly, Jake and Dani walked through the front door Caleb was out cold in the playpen, it had taken her half an hour to get him to sleep. A half an hour filled with screaming and crying but eventually he had worn himself out enough that he had passed out. She had changed into old yoga pants and an old t-shirt Stan had bought her over eight years ago with her hair pulled back in a messy bun.

She was sitting on the living room floor sorting through clothing items she had just gotten out of the dryer. She had thrown some of their laundry in with Caleb's belongings and was amazed at how small his pants were compared to Gibbs'. She was holding up a miniature pair of jeans when the kids walked in.

"Did you shrink a pair of Jake's jeans?" Kelly asked as she walked into the living room.

"No…" Jenny replied, folding the pants.

"Is there something you want to tell us?" Dani asked, "you're not pregnant, are you? You promised no more kids."

"No I am not pregnant." Jenny rolled her eyes, "those would be a bit big for a baby."

"So why do you have a pair of super small, but not small enough for a baby, pants?" Dani pressed.

"We're doing a protective custody for a child." Jenny explained, "your fathers latest case."

"How old?" Kelly asked, dropping her backpack before flopping down into the arm chair across from Jenny.

"Twenty two months." Jenny replied, "he's taking a nap right now but I doubt he'll be down for long."

"How long?" Kelly questioned.

"You sound like your father with the two word questions." Jenny pointed out, "but it's only temporary right now, I don't know how long but I can't see it being more than a week."

She shifted when Jake crawled into her lap and dropped a kiss to his forehead. She knew he was seven and probably too old to be climbing into her lap but she wanted to enjoy her little boy being little for as long as possible. He had already grown two inches in the time since he had come to them and she knew that if she blinked for too long he'd be six feet tall and leaving home.

"How was your day?" She asked, wrapping her arms around his waist.

"It was good, we got an extra long recess since it was nice out today."

"That's fun." Jenny replied enthusiastically, "did anything else happen?"

"Not really."

"Do you want a snack?"

"Can I have some cookies please?" Jake asked.

"I'll make you a deal, you can have some cookies _if _you clean your room." She compromised.

"Deal!" Jake exclaimed, "I'll go do that right now."

"_My _clean Jacob!" She called after him, "Oh god, I'm turning into your Aboulita." She muttered, looking at Kelly and Dani in horror.

Dani snorted as she walked out of the living room and up the stairs.

"Your turn is coming soon enough!" Jenny yelled after her.

"Not if I can help it!" Dani yelled back.

Jenny realized a moment too soon what she had done wrong but as soon as the screaming came from her room she realized her mistake.

"I forgot he was sleeping." She muttered, "Fuck my life."

"That's a dollar." Kelly reminded her.

Jenny cringed when she realized Kelly was still in the room, she prided herself on almost never swearing in front of the kids.

"Helpful." She deadpanned.

She pushed herself off the floor and jogged up the stairs leaving Kelly alone in the living room.

N*C*I*S

By the time Gibbs returned from the Navy Yard with Ava two hours later Jenny was putting the finishing touches on dinner while Dani and Jake set the table and Kelly entertained Caleb at the kitchen table.

He put Ava's carseat down on the floor and wrapped his arms around Jenny's waist from behind.

"How did everything go?" He asked quietly.

He nudged his nose against her neck to distract her and stole a carrot from the pot on the stove as she filled him in on the past two hours.

"Wait until dinner." She warned, waiving her wooden spoon at him.

He kissed her cheek with a smirk on his face before stepping away from her.

"You're so demanding." He teased.

"You love it." She countered.

He smirked again when her nose turned pink when she realized what she said.

"I do." He agreed quietly.

He turned around before she could respond and unbuckled Ava from her car seat, he greeted Kelly and listened to Caleb babel about something for a few minutes before it was time for dinner.

Dinner with a toddler, as it turned out, was very different from dinner with three grown kids and a baby. They quickly found out that Caleb had a strong aversion to carrots and voiced that opinion by dumping them on the floor, halfway through the meal Ava decided to try the same and tossed her sippy cup on the floor followed by the small pieces of food Jenny had put on her highchair tray. By the end of the meal both Caleb and Ava had more food _on _them than in their stomachs and Jenny was trying her best not to pull out her own hair.

"I guess it's bath time." She said with a sigh, "_again…" _

"We'll do the dishes." Kelly offered.

Dani glared across the table at her but didn't protest, Jenny saw Jake roll his eyes out of the corner of her eye but didn't comment on it. She knew having another person in the house wasn't ideal and it didn't help that that person was a toddler either.

"Are you going back to work?" Jenny asked, turning to Gibbs.

"After everyone is in bed." He replied, "at least for a few hours."

N*C*I*S

She had thought that exhaustion would take over the minute her head hit the pillow. She had thought wrong. She could hear Caleb's soft but steady breathing from the playpen in the corner, all of the kids were sound asleep and there was no reason she shouldn't be sound asleep too. She rolled over again and her hand landed on Gibbs' side of the bed. Gibbs' _empty_ side of the bed. And as much as she hated herself for it and didn't want to admit it to herself she knew why she wasn't sleeping. She was used to Gibbs' quiet breathing and steady warmth beside her on the bed and she was having a really difficult time sleeping without it.

A glance at the clock told her he should be home any minute and within ten minutes she heard the front door open and shut followed by the sound of barely there footsteps as both Gibbs and Ziva made their way up the stairs.

"Night, Kid."

She smiled at the whispered words and heard Ziva's quiet 'Laila Tov' in response before the door to her room opened quietly. She didn't say anything as Gibbs gathered a t-shirt and boxers before soundlessly slipping into the bathroom.

She heard the shower turn on and then off a few minutes later, her eyes were already starting to droop as the bathroom door opened. She felt Gibbs pull back the covers behind her and felt the bed dip as he climbed in.

"Find anything?" She asked quietly, her voice barely a whisper.

"Lot of dead-ends." He replied, "BOLO is out on the Marine, D'Arcy is starting to look for next of kin."

"Okay."

"Why are you still awake?"

He shifted closer to her now that he knew she was awake and wrapped and arm around her waist.

"Couldn't sleep." She replied, turning around and tangling her legs in his as she rested her forehead against his chest.

Gibbs felt her smooth legs brush against his and pulled back to look down at her.

"Are you wearing shorts?"

He knew she was wearing a t-shirt, he could feel the fabric under his palm but there was no way she was wearing full length PJ bottoms.

"No…" She replied slowly, "Just a long t-shirt, I didn't think you would actually come home to sleep and I couldn't handle sleeping in PJ bottoms again."

She normally slept in a short nighty or a longer t-shirt, she hated sleeping with pants on but she hadn't wanted to tease Gibbs or make him uncomfortable.

"I can go change." She offered.

"No." He replied too quickly, "just sleep in what's comfortable." He added in a calmer voice.

She couldn't help but smirk at the way he tried to cover up his response but the smirk died on her lips when his hand accidentally brushed against her bare thigh. She was just glad that she had taken five minutes in the shower to shave her legs.

**I hope everyone enjoyed this, I own nothing but I love to hear from you guys!**

**~Katie**


	11. Chapter 11

Eleven

Gibbs watched Jenny roll out of bed and tried to bite back a groan when he saw that not only was she wearing just a t-shirt, but one of _his _shirts.

"You're killing me." He groaned when she lifted her arms to stretch as she stood up.

She turned around with a raised eyebrow but quickly realized what he was looking at, she felt heat flood her face

"Sorry, it's soft and comfy." She replied, playing with the hemline.

He was very grateful that he had a heavy comforter covering him at the moment, the way she was pulling on the hem of the shirt was doing nothing to help his situation, he could see the edge of the tattoo on her inner thigh peaking out of the bottom of the shirt.

"Keep it." He replied, trying to think about anything but the woman standing in front of him.

He finally settled on thoughts of Victoria Mallard hitting on him and that was enough to get his mind out of the gutter.

"Okay." Jenny gave him a confused look but seemed to decide to leave it alone, "I'm going to go do my hair and makeup before the kids wake up."

She was about to go into the bathroom when she paused and turned to face him, she took a few steps over to the bed and leaned down to give him a quick kiss. She winked when she pulled away and he fell back on the bed with a groan.

He would respect her no sex rule and he knew she was teasing him but he honestly didn't think she realized the effect she was having on him. He ran his hands over his face and took a few more minutes to compose himself, before he heard Caleb beginning to stir in the playpen.

He rolled out of bed and pulled on a pair of track pants before making his way over to the toddler who was now standing up and looking around in bewilderment. It took a few seconds of lip quivering before the all out screaming began.

N*C*I*S

Kelly rolled over in bed and buried her face in her pillow with a loud sigh, normally she didn't mind an early morning but the sound of screaming was not her ideal wake up call. Not to mention she had been up until well after midnight texting with Mitch… Not her smartest move but she didn't regret it. She rolled over and picked her phone up off of the pillow beside her, she grinned when she was the text that was waiting for her.

_Of course today is the day Stella decides to wake up super early… Have a great day ;p. _

She laughed and shot him back a quick text, she debated about trying to get a few more minutes of sleep but gave up when she heard Ava crying across the hall. She rolled out of bed and shuffled her way into the nursery. It was going to be a long day.

N*C*I*S

Jenny had barely finished doing up the last button on her blouse when Jake ran into her room without knocking.

"Remember how we talked about privacy, bud?"

"Sorry Mom, I was just excited, are you ready to go?" Jake asked bouncing on his heels.

"Almost, what are you so excited about?" She asked, putting in earrings as she watched him in the mirror.

"It's career day!" Jake replied, "did you forget?" He asked, his face falling.

"No!" She replied quickly, "of course I didn't forget."

She had one hundred percent forgotten about career day. She was the worst mom in the world. She remembered him mentioning it in passing two weeks or so ago but she had brushed it off as a problem for a later day, with everything that had been going on it was pretty low on her radar of things to worry about. Unfortunately it now meant that she had to take Jake to work with her and Gibbs and she doubted she'd be able to keep all three of them separated all day and she really didn't want to tell Jake that he couldn't call Gibbs dad in front of everyone.

"I'll be ready to go in five minutes, where's your dad?"

"Helping Caleb." Jake replied, rolling his eyes.

"I can see you in the mirror." She warned gently, "watch it with the eye rolls, they'll get stuck like that."

"Sorry." He replied, digging his toe into the carpet, "do you want me to go get Daddy?"

"Yes please."

She was doing a final check for dirt, spit up or any of the other fun things that came with having kids, on her outfit when Gibbs walked in with Ava in his arms.

"It's Jake's career day today." She informed him.

"Shit."

"Yup." She replied.

"I guess there's nothing we can do now."

"Not without our son hating us or feeling like we don't love him." Jenny replied, "I guess today will be the day everyone can cash in on the bets they've been making."

"Ducky is about to be a very rich man." Gibbs deadpanned.

"He was betting?" Jenny asked with a laugh, "a bit unfair don't you think?"

"He put money in for us too."

"Well in that case…." Jenny replied with a wink.

Gibbs laughed and shook his head at her.

"I'm going to get her and Caleb in the car, Ziver drove herself in." Gibbs informed her, "the girls left ten minutes ago."

"I know, Dani stopped in to say goodbye to me."

"Not Kelly?"

"No… I thought it was weird too." Jenny replied with a shrug, "she was probably running late or something, this morning was pretty hectic."

Kelly had been off for the last few days but it hadn't been anything major, she had left it alone but they were approaching the point where she knew they would need to ask her if there was anything seriously wrong.

"Maybe." Gibbs agreed, "I'll meet you downstairs."

She did one last check and grabbed a jacket and her bags before heading downstairs. By the time she finished locking the house and made her way to the car Gibbs was finished buckling all of the kids in and was already seated in the drivers seat. She climbed into the passenger seat and buckled herself in as Gibbs pulled out of the driveway.

Gibbs watched Jenny out of the corner of his eye, she had a paperback book open in her lap, one leg tucked under her on the seat and he could tell by the look on her face she was completely absorbed in the words. He was almost jealous that she could tune out the asinine childrens music playing over the stereo, Jake and Caleb were enjoying themselves but he wanted to beat his head against the car window.

He reached over and rested a hand on her thigh, she absentmindedly rested on hand on top of his and rubbed her thumb back and forth.

N*C*I*S

She knew that their secret would eventually come out, it was a given really but she wasn't sure she was ready for today to be the day. She held Jake's hand on the elevator and glanced over at Gibbs, Caleb was seated happily on his shoulders and Gibbs was holding his feet firmly with one hand while the other was holding Jake's free hand. He glanced over and caught her eye before his eyes drifted down to her hands.

"You're wearing your rings." He stated, the reminder to take them off unspoken.

"May as well let them talk." She replied with a shrug, "Cat's out of the bag after this anyway."

She knew there were ways they could spin it but she wasn't willing to lie about their family unless it was for safety reasons. She wasn't ashamed of her relationship with Gibbs and she certainly wasn't ashamed of their family. They had taken the measures necessary to prove there had been, and wouldn't be, any favouritism. She knew there would be a few days, maybe a few weeks, of people talking and asking questions, there would be whispers and rude stares but she was beyond caring, she was happy and that was all that mattered.

"Unless you want me to take them off?" She asked after a minute.

She hadn't thought ask Gibbs how he felt about the situation but he hadn't made a comment so she had assumed he was okay with it.

"Nope." Gibbs replied, "ready for people to stop thinking you're available."

He saw the looks Jenny got around not only the office but everywhere she went. She may have had a reputation for being an ice queen at work but she was still attractive enough that she turned heads everywhere she went.

She rolled her eyes at him but kept her rings where they were. She wanted to remind him that he didn't wear a ring and got more than his fair share of looks from women but she kept her mouth shut.

She glanced down and smiled when she saw Jake grinning up at her excitedly, she knew he was feeling a bit jealous with another little boy taking some their attention away and she felt bad that their work was having an affect on his life but she was happy he seemed so excited about spending the day with them. Even if the prospect made her want to throw up.

**Things will be a bit slow going for updates since I'm visiting family right now but I hope everyone enjoys this! Remember I own nothing but I absolutely love to hear from you guys!**

**~Katie **


	12. Chapter 12

Twelve

Jenny gave Jake's hand one last squeeze as the elevator doors opened in front of them, he looked up at her questioningly but she quickly gave him a reassuring smile as Gibbs stepped off of the elevator, pulling the rest of the group with him.

Jenny and Gibbs arriving together was nothing out of the usual, the two of them arriving with two children in tow was another matter completely. It took a moment for people to notice them but by the time they reached Gibbs' end of the squad-room the room was filled with quiet chatter and Jenny could feel eyes at her back.

"Mommy?"

Jenny looked down at Jake who was staring around the room with wide eyes.

"Yes?"

"Why are the walls the colour of the Cheeto's Tony eats?"

Gibbs snorted beside her as he rounded his desk and lifted Caleb down off of his shoulders.

"I don't know, buddy." Jenny replied with a sigh.

She had tried to have the colour changed but there hadn't been room in the budget for it, she took Caleb from Gibbs and settled him on her hip. She brushed her hand over Jake's hair and watched as he noticed the drawings behind Gibbs' desk.

"Hey!" He exclaimed happily, "I drew that!"

"Yeah." Gibbs agreed, "you did, and Kelly did that one when she was younger than you." He added pointing to the drawing of himself, Shannon and Kelly.

Jenny watched Jake finger the edge of the page and took a moment to glance around the room, the eyes she felt earlier quickly averted themselves as Agents saw her looking around.

"Hey!" Tony exclaimed, walking into the bullpen, coffee in hand and backpack slung over his shoulder, "what're you doing here, Junior?"

"Take your kid to work day." Jenny explained quietly.

"So… Does that mean…."

Jenny rolled her eyes, "Yes, you can cash in on your bets."

Tony pumped his fist and tossed his bag behind his desk before pulling out a little black notebook. He opened the black book but quickly shut it when Gibbs' hand connected with the back of his head firmly.

"Not while we're working." He warned firmly, "and not in front of _him_."

"Sorry, Boss." Tony winced and rubbed the back of his head, "won't happen again boss."

Jenny rolled her eyes and put Caleb down when he started to wiggle in her arms, she steadied him before grabbing her bag off of Gibbs' desk.

"So I guess I have both boys this morning?"

"Can you take them for half an hour while we debrief?" Gibbs asked, "then I can grab them before your meeting in MTAC."

"Sounds good." Jenny agreed, "get them away from prying eyes too." She muttered.

Gibbs rolled his eyes and reached down to ruffle Jake's hair.

"Mom's gonna take you to see her office, sound good?"

"Yup!" Jake bounced on his heels and waved, "see you later Tony."

"See ya later, Shrimp."

Jake stuck out his tongue over his shoulder as he followed Jenny over to the stairs. Jenny saw it out of the corner of her eyes and rolled her eyes when Tony returned the gesture with a small wink.

"Good morning Cynthia." She greeted when she entered the outer part of her office.

"Good morning, Director." Cynthia replied, "Helping Special Agent Gibbs out again?"

"Partially." Jenny replied, shifting Caleb, "Caleb is part of Special Agent Gibbs' latest case but this is my son, Jake, it's take your kid to work day today."

"Well it's very nice to meet you." Cynthia stood and offered Jake her hand.

"Nice to meet you too." Jake replied shyly.

Jenny placed a hand on the back of his head and smiled encouragingly.

N*C*I*S

Jenny shifted on the edge of Gibbs' desk and handed Caleb another Cheeto, his hands were the same colour as the bullpen walls and his lips and cheeks were stained the same orange. People were still casting glances their way but no one had had the balls to actually approach them. Plenty of people had approached the members of Gibbs' team but they had been met with the same response every time, 'if you want to know anything ask them.'

Jenny knew Tony was dying to gossip and she had made it known how much both she and Gibbs appreciated him refraining.

Jake was seated at Gibbs' desk drawing something on a piece of paper, overall the day had been a success. Gibbs, Ziva and Tony were out following a lead on their case, McGee was still at his desk going over financial records and waiting on standby in the event that Jenny needed anything. Kelly was on her way in to pick Jake up, she would stay at the Navy Yard with Caleb until Gibbs got back but Jake was beginning to get restless and tired after a busy day .

"Mommy is Kelly going to be here soon?" Jake asked without looking up.

"She should be here any second."

She handed Caleb another Cheeto and checked her phone where sure enough there was a text from Kelly.

**Here, on my way up.**

By the time she finished reading it the elevator doors were dinging and opening to reveal Kelly. She stepped off of the elevator followed closely by a security agent from the front gate.

"This young lady says she's your daughter, Director."

The agent was older and had been around since Jenny's probie days, she had always enjoyed his jovial sense of humour and kind eyes.

"She looks enough like you that I believed her." He added with a wink.

"It's the hair." Jenny and Kelly both stated at the same time.

"And the attitude." He commented with another wink, "I'll just leave her with you then."

"Actually if you could wait Malcom, Kelly's just here to pick up her brother they'll be heading down in a minute."

"Of course Ma'am."

Jenny placed Caleb down on the floor and gathered up Jake's backpack and helped him into his jacket.

"Can you give this to Daddy to hang on his board?" Jake asked, handing her the drawing he had been working on.

"I'll hang it up right now." She reached over and pinned it up on the board between all of the other drawings.

When she turned back around Malcom was looking at her with a raised eyebrow but wisely kept his mouth shut as Jenny finished getting Jake ready to go.

"I'll be home by five, your Aboulita left a casserole in the freezer can you throw it in at four-thirty for me?"

"Sure thing." Kelly promised, "you ready to go kiddo?"

"Yup." Jake replied.

"Okay, be good for your sister and drive safely please, Kelly."

"Yes, Mother." Kelly replied, rolling her eyes, "I'll call you when we get home."

She leaned forward and gave Jenny a quick kiss on the cheek before wrapping her arm around Jake's shoulders.

"Say hey to Dad for me." She called over her shoulder.

**Thank you all for all of your support guys! Remember I own nothing but I absolutely love to hear from you guys!**

**~Katie **


	13. Chapter 13

Thirteen 

By the time she got home Kelly had the table set and dinner in the oven, Dani was sitting at the kitchen table with her homework in front of her. She put Ava's carseat down on the floor and let go of Caleb's hand.

"Hey, babe." She greeted dropping a kiss on the top of Dani's head, "How was your day?"

"It was good, it's almost the weekend so that's a plus."

Jenny snorted and gave her shoulder a squeeze.

"Where are Jake and Kelly?"

"Kelly's in her room and I think Jake is watching TV in the den." Dani replied, "is it just you home or are Gibbs and Ziva with you?"

"Ziva and your dad are still at work." Jenny replied, "Gibbs will be home to help put the kids to bed."

"Is he heading back in after that again?"

"Yup, it's going to be like that for a few days."

Jenny lifted Caleb up when he tried to climb up onto a chair, she settled him on her hip and carefully crouched down to unbuckle Ava's carseat. The baby cooed and offered her a toothy grin.

"Hey pretty lady, you've got lots of smiles for Mommy today, don'tchya?"

Ava babbled and stuck her fist in her mouth, her wide green eyes blinking up at her. She put Caleb down and lifted Ava out of the carseat.

"Are you hungry, Caleb?"

"Supper." Caleb replied.

"Please…" Jenny prompted gently.

"Pwease." Caleb responded dutifully.

Jenny smiled encouragingly and chuckled at his wide eyes and the innocent look on his face.

"Dani can you take Caleb and help him wash up? I'm going to get your sister in her highchair and get the casserole out of the oven."

"Just need one second, almost done this question."

"Okay."

Jenny turned on the tap and wet a washcloth to clean Ava's hands. Once the baby was clean she strapped her into her highchair and checked to make sure there was nothing she could grab or throw within reach. That done she went back to the kitchen to pull out dinner.

N*C*I*S

By ten o'clock that night Jenny felt dead on her feet, Gibbs' hadn't been able to make it home from work to help with putting the kids to bed. Even with the help from Kelly and Dani it had still been a hectic evening and Jenny was quickly coming to terms with the differences between having two kids under ten and having three kids under ten and two under two. Bedtime had been full of tears for both Caleb and Ava and Jake had been giving her the cold shoulder by the time she was able to go in and say goodnight to him. Kelly had disappeared with only a quick goodnight and Dani had looked exhausted and had barely uttered two words before disappearing to her room.

Jenny braided her damp hair back and quickly washed her face, barely taking time to go through her normal routine. She had a killer headache and wanted nothing more than to curl up into a ball on her bed and go to sleep. She shut the light off in her bathroom and quickly checked on the kids before climbing into bed. She could hear Caleb's soft breathing from the other end of the room and let the steady sound lull her into a light sleep.

She was woken out of her sleep by the sound of crying, she knew it was Ava the minute she opened her eyes. She glanced over at the alarm clock on Gibbs' side of the bed and groaned at the time 0300. She rolled out of bed, and pulled on one of Gibbs' hoodies before crossing the hall.

It took her over half an hour to get Ava back to sleep, she carefully laid the sleeping baby back in her crib and silently wondered where the hell Gibbs was. She knew he wasn't home, she hadn't heard either him or Ziva enter the house but it was well passed the time she was expecting them home. She debated calling one of them to make sure they were okay but ultimately decided against it, there was a good chance they had gotten caught up in the case. Gibbs had called to say goodnight to the kids and she knew that if something had happened someone would have called to tell her.

She crawled back into bed with a tired sigh. She had barely drifted off to sleep before she was woken by Caleb's cries from across the room. She pushed herself out of bed and shuffled across the room to the playpen. Caleb looked up at her with wide, watery blue eyes.

"I want Mommy."

Jenny's heart broke for the little boy as his cries turned into the most pitiful whimpers she had ever heard.

"M-Mommy…"

"I know buddy…" She whispered, lifting him out.

She cradled him against her and started to pace across the room. After close to ten minutes his cries quieted but every time she tried to put him down they grew louder again. After another twenty minutes of pacing to no avail she finally gave up and just laid him down in bed with her. It took ten minutes of quiet whimpering and her rubbing Caleb's back for him to finally fall back asleep. She glanced over at the clock gave up on the idea of going back to sleep, it was almost 0500 and her alarm was set for 0530. She reached over and shut the alarm so off so it didn't wake Caleb and rolled onto her back. Her bedroom door creaked quietly and she propped her head up to see Jake peeking in.

"Mommy… I had a bad dream."

She wordlessly lifted the covers beside her and waited for Jake to crawl in and curl up next to her. As much as she wished for the help she was almost glad Gibbs wasn't home, the bed was getting cramped as it was, with Caleb pressed firmly against her right side and Jake curled up to her left.

"Do you want to talk about it?" She offered quietly.

"No."

"Just want to cuddle?"

"Yes please."

She pulled Jake closer and rubbed her hand up and down his back, he wasn't crying and didn't seem overly upset so she let him doze beside her quietly.

Her mind wandered as both boys slept on quietly beside her, a year ago she never would have imagined her life would have turned out like it had. Happily in a relationship, with Gibbs of all people, four kids, five at the moment, the team was in a good place and their lives were finally peaceful in their own, chaotic way.

N*C*I*S

The serenity of her quiet moment in bed wore off quickly when Gibbs failed to make it home to help get the kids ready for school. Normally Kelly and Dani were helpful but in the mornings before school, when they had to worry about getting themselves ready they were slightly less available to lend a hand. When Gibbs was home it wasn't a problem, Jake was pretty self sufficient and when he did need help Gibbs would give him a hand since it only took him ten minutes tops to get ready for work. With Gibbs gone and having Caleb around getting ready was a much more challenging ordeal. Having two kids under two years old did nothing for her sanity and Jake had chosen that particular morning to become extra clingy. By the time Kelly, Dani and Jake left and Jenny had loaded Ava and a now screaming Caleb into the car to go to the Navy Yard she was ready to pull out her own hair.

She knew it was a traumatic time for the toddler and that he had had a long night and was no doubt tired, she was doing her best to be patient with him and the reasonable part of her knew that he wasn't misbehaving just to drive her insane. But the unreasonable part of her wondered if he just wanted to watch her have a mental breakdown because she was about two minutes away from that if the screaming didn't stop. She knew one thing for certain, Gibbs, who hadn't even bothered to call, had better have the _best_ excuse in the world ready for her or she was going to murder him.

N*C*I*S

By the time she pulled into her usual parking spot Caleb had finally stopped crying, his mood had done a one eighty and he was happily talking to Ava who was babbling back at him in her own language. She grabbed her bags, unbuckled Caleb and unhooked Ava's carseat before making her way into the building, all the while silently wishing for another hand.

She dropped Ava off at the daycare and silently rejoiced as the feeling came back into her numb arm, she still hated the baby-seat just as much as she had on the first day they had brought Ava home. When the elevator door opened on to the squad room she made a beeline for Gibbs' bullpen where Ziva was the only agent at her desk.

"I'm not going to ask any questions." She stated without greeting the younger woman, "the only thing I'm going to ask is can you take him for fifteen minutes?"

"Of course." Ziva replied, "I take it you had a rough night."

"Yes well being a single parent to five kids without hearing hide nor hair from your partner isn't exactly the recipe for a good night." Jenny replied sharply.

She took a deep breath and ran her hand over her face with very little regard to the minimal, hastily applied makeup she was wearing.

"I'm sorry." She sighed, "I'm tired and I've had a headache since last night, I just need fifteen minutes to get myself organized if you could watch him."

"It is not a problem." Ziva assured her, "we will be just fine won't we, Caleb?"

Jenny gave a small sigh of relief when Caleb willingly walked into Ziva's open arms, she said a quick but warm goodbye the little boy with a promise to return quickly before heading up to her office.

She dropped her belongings on her conference table before sinking down on her couch in exhaustion. She had two meetings to attend that morning and realistically there was much more she could be doing to prepare but the only thing on her mind at that moment was taking two minutes to just enjoy the silence.

Her head was pounding, she was exhausted, her mind was just a long list of to-do's on constant repeat, her house was a disaster and her partner was absent but in that moment of pure silence everything disappeared for a few seconds.

It lasted all of ten seconds when there was a knock on her door before it opened and shut without waiting for a response from her.

"The point of knocking is to allow the inhabitant of the room to either accept or decline company." She informed the intruder.

"I figured you would decline if you knew who it was." Gibbs stated, "Rule Twenty."

"Rule sixteen." She retorted quietly, "I have a headache and I need a few minutes of quiet, Jethro."

She expected an argument or for him to simply leave but instead she felt the couch dip beside her. She felt him wrap his arm around her shoulder before he gently pulled her against his side.

"I'm sorry I couldn't make it home last night." He whispered, "Lead took us out of town, tried calling but there was no service."

"I understand why you couldn't make it home, I'm not even upset about that. I mean I was on my way in to work and a phone call would have been nice but I'm not upset anymore." She admitted quietly, "I'm just tired, five kids is a lot to handle by myself, especially when they're up most of the night."

"They were up a lot?"

"Ava woke up at three, Caleb at four and Jake was up at five, I got Ava back to sleep but ended up with both boys in bed with me."

"I'm sorry, Jen."

"Stop apologizing." She sighed, "we knew that there were going to be nights where one of us would have to stay at work, I'm just over tired right now that's all."

"You sure that's all."

"I have a headache." She admitted, reaching up to massage the back of her neck.

"What can I do?"

"You can watch Caleb for twenty minutes so I can prep for my meeting in MTAC."

"Done." Gibbs promised, "who's the meeting with?"

"Eli." Jenny replied, pursing her lips, "the cherry on top of an already perfect morning."

**Jenny had a rough night… Let's see where her meeting with Eli goes and what other drama we can come up with… I own nothing but I hope everyone enjoyed this and I absolutely love to hear from you guys!**

**~Katie**


	14. Chapter 14

Fourteen

Kelly lightly kicked Mitch's foot with a small laugh, they were bundled up against the cold November air and laying on a blanket in the backyard staring up at the clear sky.

"I'm still not seeing how you can see an elephant in that." She said, "I'm definitely seeing a rabbit."

"Have you ever seen a rabbit?"

She rolled her head to the side and laughed again when she saw his raised eyebrow, she rolled her eyes and turned her head back.

"I can have Stella give you a lesson in animals if you want, she's very good at them." He offered.

"I'll consider it." She deadpanned, "that one is definitely a duck." She added pointing up to a cloud.

"It's a chicken."

She rolled over on her side and propped herself up on her arm and shook her head at him.

"Now you're just being controversial for the fun of it."

"Controversial is a big word for a woman who doesn't know the difference between a rabbit and an elephant."

"You're insane." She informed him seriously.

"I'm well aware of that." He replied with a shrug, "I'm more shocked that you're just coming to this realization."

"Well you would think after all of this time I would have seen it but I guess I just chose to ignore it."

It was his turn to laugh as he rolled over to face her, propping himself up on his arm.

"So where did you say your brother and sister were?"

"Soccer practise, Jake plays and Dani helps coach." She replied.

"Nice, does he play with the school?"

"Yeah, he's actually pretty good at it too." Kelly informed him proudly, "did you ever do any sports?"

"Football in ninth and tenth grade but that was about it though." Mitch replied, "What about you, any sports?"

"No, I definitely did not inherit any sort of athletic ability."

It was a little after four and she wasn't expecting anyone home for at least another hour and a half, it was the only reason she had suggested Mitch come over. All of their other meetings had been in public places that were out of the way of her family, she wasn't even sure why she was keeping their friendship a secret anymore but she had been doing it for over three weeks at that point and she couldn't figure out how to broach the subject.

Apparently though that was out of her hands as she heard someone clear their throat behind her. She rolled over and sat up straight when she saw Jenny standing there with a raised eyebrow and her arms crossed over her chest. She had a polite smile on her face but Kelly could tell that that was only for Mitch's benefit.

Mitch sat up straight and immediately stood up when he saw Jenny.

"Mrs. Gibbs." He held out his hand to her, "it's nice to meet you, I'm Luis Mitchell, I just go by Mitch though."

"It's nice to meet you, Mitch." Jenny replied, shaking his hand and glancing over at Kelly.

"Mitch was actually just heading out." Kelly supplied quickly.

He had been planning to stay for at least another half an hour but Kelly wanted to save him from the wrath of Jenny or worse, her father should he also appear early.

"I have to meet my mother for supper." Mitch added, glancing back at Kelly.

"Well it was nice to meet you, I'm sure we'll be seeing you again." Jenny replied.

She watched him say a quick goodbye to Kelly and waited until he was well out of earshot before she turned to her daughter.

"Do you want to tell me what the _hell _is going on here?" She asked, her voice deadly quiet.

"I will but first… Where's Daddy?" She asked, praying that he was still at work.

"Still at work and you'd better thank God for that because if he had found you he would not be as calm as I am right now."

Kelly swallowed and nodded, looking down at her hands.

"Get up, grab your blanket and get inside." Jenny ordered.

She had absolutely no idea how to proceed, she knew she needed to say something, she was beyond livid despite her outward appearance of calm. She just didn't know if she should wait for Gibbs to get home before she said something or if she should ask questions now and then leave the rest of the discussion for later.

"So I can explain." Kelly said as soon as they were in the kitchen.

"Oh I bet you can." Jenny replied with a humourless laugh, "It better be the best damn explanation you've ever given, you lied to me Kelly Anne, I trusted you and you lied to me."

"I didn't lie…"

"A lie by omission is still a lie." She cut her off, "you said you were with a friend, did you think your father and I would actually care that that friend was a boy? If you had told us probably not, but I am definitely not okay with the fact that you said you were going out with a friend and then had a boy over while no one else was home. Do you understand how bad that looks?"

"I know." Kelly said quietly, "I'm sorry."

"Sorry's not going to cut it, Babe." Jenny replied, softening her tone slightly, "I've been giving you a lot of free reign the last few weeks but that's done now, I need to know that I can trust you."

"I screwed up." Kelly whispered.

"Yeah you did." Jenny agreed, "and there are going to be consequences but I need to talk to your dad first, before I do that do you maybe want to tell me why you lied?"

"I didn't want to hurt, Daddy."

"I'm going to need more than that." Jenny replied, raising her eyebrow.

"I've known Mitch since I was three… His dad was the NIS agent that died in the crash with my mom, we obviously lost contact after it happened but I saw him at the market a few weeks ago and we reconnected."

Jenny ran her hand through her hair with a sigh, she still didn't condone it but she could sort of understand where Kelly had come from.

"I didn't want that to bring everything back up for Dad, not when he's happy right now." She added quietly.

"I can understand that, Kel, I absolutely do not condone it but I can understand… You have to remember that your dad is an adult, I get not wanting to hurt him but do you think me telling him about this is going to be any better for him?"

She could see she had driven her point across when Kelly's eyes started to well up with tears. She felt bad for the teen but she also knew that they needed to nip it in the bud before something similar happened again.

"I'm sorry." Kelly said again, her lip quivering.

"I know, Baby."

Jenny stepped forward and pulled Kelly into a hug, she ran her hand over her hair before stepping back.

"Go on up to your room." She ordered gently.

Kelly swallowed and nodded before leaving. Jenny watched her go and ran her hand through her hair again, it had been a long enough week without having to deal with this on top of everything else. Gibbs' team had finally closed Caleb's case, they had found his father two states over trying to catch a flight to Cambodia, Caleb had been handed over to his aunt who had happily taken him in. She had had a hard time letting him go but she was relieved that he was safe and well cared for and Gibbs' team had spent the last day and a half wrapping up paperwork for the case.

She knew he would probably be able to leave early but she really didn't want to have to have the conversation with him. She took a deep breath and pulled her cellphone out of her purse, she hesitated for a few seconds before pressing the first number on her speed dial.

_Gibbs._

"Hey, it's me."

_Everything okay?_

He must have heard something in her voice because his tone immediately turned to one of concern.

"Everything's fine but is there anyway you can leave an hour early?" She asked, "the kids are fine, everyone is okay I just need to talk to you before everyone gets home."

_Okay, I'll be home in twenty minutes, want me to get DiNozzo to bring the baby home and pick up the kids?_

"If he doesn't mind." Jenny replied with a small sigh, "Tell him to pick up some pizza on his way too."

_You sure everything's okay, Jen?_

"I promise everyone is fine, I'll see you in a bit."

As usual he hung up the phone without saying goodbye and she closed her phone, she shot Dani a quick text to let her know the change of plans before tossing her phone back in her purse.

Even with sixty plus days of sobriety behind her everything in her wanted to go up to her office and drink the entire bottle of bourbon that was locked up there.

**Somebody's in trouble… I hope everyone enjoyed sorry for the long break! I own nothing but I love to hear from you guys! Have a great Friday everyone!**

**~Katie**


	15. Chapter 15

Fifteen

Jenny was sitting on one of the couches in the den when Gibbs walked through the front door. She had been hoping to gather her thoughts before he got home but that hope had been in vain, her mind was still racing and she hadn't been able to figure out what the hell she was going to say to Gibbs. She could hear him moving around probably searching for her and called out to him.

"In the den."

A minute later he appeared with a slightly concerned expression on his face and she offered him a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.

"What's goin' on?" He asked, walking over to her.

"Sit down."

"Jen…" He trailed off, his voice wary.

"Sit down, before I say anything I need you to promise me that you're not going to start yelling and you're going to take at least ten minutes to think before you do anything."

"You need to tell me what the hell is going on." He replied firmly, he didn't know what was going on with her and he was starting to worry that something was seriously wrong.

"I came home early today." She said unnecessarily, "and when I got home I found Kelly in the back yard… With a boy."

She saw Gibbs' jaw clench and his fists ball up but he didn't say anything out loud even though his eyes were flashing a murderous shade of anger.

"Nothing happened." She assured him quickly and she prayed to God that she wasn't lying to him, "but apparently she's been seeing him for a few weeks. It's partially my fault, things have been so crazy I didn't check in as much as I should have-"

"We trusted her and she took advantage of that." Gibbs cut her off, "this is _not _your fault."

"According to her he's just a friend." Jenny added after a moment.

"Then why would she bother lying about it?"

"I asked that too… She's known him since she was three, his dad was the NIS Agent who was killed in the accident with Shannon."

She watched his anger vanish and turn into something she had only ever seen on his face once, when he had been in the hospital and had learned that Shannon and Kelly were still gone.

"She was trying to protect you." Jenny whispered, "It doesn't make it right and I made that very clear but I do kind of understand where she was coming from… Sometimes we do the wrong thing to protect the people we love."

Her mind flashed back to eight years earlier when she had been holding a positive pregnancy test and had made a difficult decision to protect both the man she loved and their child. Gibbs must have thought the same thing because he reached out and squeezed her hand.

"The road to Hell is paved with good intentions." He muttered.

Jenny looked at him in surprise but nodded. "It doesn't make what she did right but…"

Gibbs sighed loudly and ran his hand over his face.

"What're we gonna do?"

She knew they needed to do something, letting it go wasn't an option but she wasn't sure what the protocol was for this. Sure she had snuck out to see guys when she had been Kelly's age but she had never actually gotten caught, she was however sure that had she gotten caught Lydia and her father would have skinned her alive.

"Ground her?" Jenny's suggestion came off unsure and more of a question then a suggestion.

"From what?" Gibbs asked with a humourless laugh, "she really doesn't go out and when she does it's with the team or for family events."

"Well she's too old for a time out." Jenny replied, rolling her eyes while she said it, "what if… I can't even think of anything." She admitted with as sigh of defeat, "it's not like she's ever done anything remotely bad before, never mind something like this."

"We can't just give her a warning."

"I know and I want to at least meet this kid, because right now all I know is his name." Jenny replied, "It could have been worse, I mean it's not like we found them naked in bed together."

"Why the hell would you say that?" Gibbs asked, rubbing his hand over his eyes.

"Sorry…" She replied sheepishly.

N*C*I*S

Upstairs in her room Kelly ran her hands over her face and looked out her window in an attempt to distract herself from what was going on downstairs. She knew she had screwed up, she wasn't even going to pretend that she didn't she just hadn't realized how badly she had screwed up until she saw the anger and worse the disappointment on Jenny's face. She didn't even want to think about what her father would say.

She ran her hands through her hair nervously and twisted it into a knot at the base the base of her neck before letting it fall down her back again. She picked up her phone just to have something to do with her hands and smiled softly at the message that was waiting for her.

_Hope everything goes okay._

She quickly put her phone down when she heard footsteps coming up the stairs followed by a soft knock on her door. She swung her legs off of her window seat and called out a quiet 'come in'. She looked down at her hands as soon as she saw the disappointment written all over Gibbs' face.

"I'm sorry." She whispered before they could say anything.

"Not good enough." Gibbs replied firmly.

"I know."

She knew she deserved it but she had never heard Gibbs be that firm before. He hadn't raised his voice but his tone was enough to make her want to be anywhere else in the world.

"If you knew then why'd you do it?" Gibbs asked.

"I made a mistake."

"No." Gibbs corrected, "you made a bad decision, a mistake is something you don't mean to do, you meant to lie to your mother and I, you knew _exactly _what you were doing and you did it anyway."

"We trusted you and you took advantage of that." Jenny added quietly, "And there are going to be consequences for that."

"I know."

"From now on you're going to tell us exactly where you're going and who you're going with, you're grounded for a week. No going out with the team and you'll be home by supper every night unless you have something for school and if you have something for school you're going to call when you get there and when you leave." Gibbs said, "And even after the week is over you're going to have to work to gain our trust back."

"Okay." Kelly agreed quietly, "And I know it doesn't fix it or make it better but I really am sorry."

"We know you are." Jenny replied softly, "and we get that it's hard being a teenager and this situation was especially difficult, but you should have come to us."

"I know." Kelly replied quietly, "I was just afraid of hurting Dad or bringing everything back up now that you guys are in a good place."

"And while we appreciate that you care about us," Jenny replied slowly, "it's our job to worry about you, not the other way around."

"You don't ever have to be afraid of coming to me or your mom, about anything, okay?" Gibbs asked.

"We're here for you, Kel, we love you and only want what's best for you." Jenny added.

"I know, and next time I'll come to you guys, I promise."

"Okay." Gibbs said, "then it's over, you've still gotta do you your punishment but we're not going to talk about it anymore okay?"

"Alright." Kelly agreed, "Thank you."

She looked up when Gibbs crouched in front of her and put a finger under her chin to tilt it up so she was looking at him.

"Love you, Kel."

She smiled softly and wrapped her arms around her neck, "Love you too, Daddy." She whispered.

When Gibbs pulled back Jenny stepped forward and Kelly stood up and wrapped her arms around the older redhead.

"We're here for you." Jenny whispered against Kelly's hair.

"I know." Kelly whispered, "I love you, Mama."

She felt Jenny's arms tighten around her and had to bite her lip to stop herself from crying even though she knew Jenny was probably just as close to tears as she was.

"I love you too, Baby."

**So that's dealt with… I wanted them to be a bit strict but Gibbs has always been the type to make his point and then soften a bit, at least with the girls (Ziva in Good Cop, Bad Cop) and honestly I can't see Jenny being able to stay mad especially where she understands exactly where Kelly was coming from… I hope everyone enjoyed, Have a great week everyone! (I still own nothing)**

**~Katie **


	16. Chapter 16

Sixteen

Jenny chuckled quietly to herself as she watched Tony and Jake running around the backyard with a soccer ball. They were both bundled up in winter coats, gloves and hats to fight against the cold air and the only thing lighting the dark backyard was the two porch lights on the back deck but they had both been bound and determined to spend a bit of time playing together after supper.

Thankfully neither Dani nor Jake had questioned the fact that it had been Tony to pick them up rather than Gibbs or Kelly like it normally was after soccer practices and Tony had refrained from asking any questions after confirming that everyone was okay. Dani had retreated to her room after supper to do homework and Gibbs was giving Ava a bath while Jenny finished up the last of the meagre supper dishes, Kelly was sitting at the kitchen table folding laundry and listening to something on her phone.

"Is it okay if I call Mitch after?"

Jenny looked away from the window to her daughter and shrugged.

"Your phone and computer weren't part of your grounding."

"I just want to let him know that everything is okay." Kelly explained.

"Go ahead." Jenny replied, offering her a small smile, "and while you're at it invite him over for a family dinner on Friday night."

"I'm sorry, what?" Kelly asked, her voice slightly panicked.

"Your father and I would like to meet this boy." Jenny explained, "And we thought this would be the best way to do it, since you haven't actually told us anything about him."

"I will tell you whatever you want to know as long as you don't subject him to one of our family dinners." Kelly promised.

"How old is he?" Jenny asked.

She knew just by looking at him that he was at least a little bit older than Kelly, she just hoped that it wasn't a horribly inappropriate age difference that she would have to be the bad guy and say that Kelly couldn't spend time with him anymore.

"He just turned nineteen." Kelly replied biting her bottom lip, "so technically there's only two and a half years between us."

It wasn't ideal but Jenny could live with that, she only hopped Gibbs could.

"Is he in school?" She asked after a moment.

"Yes, he's at Georgetown in his second year for Political Science, he skipped a grade that's why he's already in second year." She explained, "He works as a teachers assistant." She added, taking a good guess that that would be Jenny's next question.

"That was the same program I took." Jenny replied, nodding her head in approval, "it's not an easy program to get into and it's not an easy one to stay with."

"He says he really likes it." Kelly replied.

"Do you have a picture of him?" She asked, "I didn't really get a good look at him this afternoon." She added, giving Kelly a pointed look and then a small smirk.

Kelly nodded and pulled out her phone and swiped the screen a few times before passing it over to Jenny. She couldn't tell where the picture had been taken but the first thing she noticed was the wide smile on Kelly's face as she looked at the camera, Mitch was standing beside her with a wide grin on his face, with short, dark brown hair, chocolate brown eyes and just enough facial hair that he looked rugged but still handsome at the same time. He had one arm wrapped around Kelly's shoulders and his free hand was resting on the top of a little girls wavy brown hair. She would place the girl as maybe two or three, her hair was long and she had bright brown eyes and a wide, toothy grin on her face as she looked up at Kelly.

"Who's the little girl?" Jenny asked.

When she looked up from the picture Kelly was bitting her bottom lip and twisting her hands together.

"His daughter." She admitted quietly.

"His daughter?" Jenny asked, unsure if she had heard her daughter correctly.

"Yeah… Her name is Stella she's two… Mitch is raising her alone, her mother didn't want to be a parent that young but Mitch didn't want to put her up for adoption so she signed over full custody to him and it's been the two of them since." Kelly explained, "I only found out about her last week."

Jenny had no idea how to respond to that, while part of her thought it was admirable that he had stepped up at only sixteen years old to raise his daughter alone she was also worried about how that would affect Kelly should their relationship move past friends.

"And you two are _just_ friends?"

"Yes." Kelly replied seriously, "you don't have any comment about him having a daughter?" She asked, her voice tinged with suspicion.

"If you two are just friends then it's not my place to have an opinion." Jenny replied slowly.

"And if we weren't just friends?"

"Then I would say that it's admirable that he stepped up and that everyone makes mistakes, I'm not exactly the authority on good parenting choices." She smiled weakly, "but I would also warn you that kids make things a lot more complicated and that maybe you should really consider that before you make any decisions."

"Okay." Kelly replied.

She stood up and took her phone back from Jenny when the older woman held it out to her.

"Thank you." She said sincerely, "for not freaking out."

"You're welcome, do you want me to tell your dad or are you going to?" Jenny asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You if you don't mind…. He might take it better coming from you."

"Alright, go on upstairs, call Mitch and then make sure all of your homework is done."

"Okay." Kelly replied turning on her heel.

"Thanks for doing the laundry!" She called after her as the teen disappeared.

"Welcome!" Kelly called over her shoulder.

"Don't forget to invite him for supper."

She could hear Kelly's sigh from in the kitchen and smirked to herself.

"Fine." Kelly called back in defeat.

Jenny listened to her run up the stairs and waited until she heard the door to her room shut before she crossed the kitchen to finish folding the last little bit of clean laundry. There was slightly less laundry now that both Ziva and Caleb were gone and as much as she missed having both of them around she was a bit relieved to be back to normal. She had had a short discussion with Ziva about Eli's latest requests and Ziva had told Jenny to do whatever she thought was best. She had been adamant with Eli that it wasn't happening but the man continued to push and was very quickly getting on Jenny's last nerve.

She glanced back out the window as she folded the last item in the basket and jumped in surprise when she felt two strong arms wrap around her waist from behind.

"You're going to give me a heart attack one day." She muttered.

She leaned back against Gibbs' chest and sighed contentedly when he dropped a kiss to the sensitive spot right where her neck met her shoulder.

"What were you talking to Kel about?" He muttered against her neck.

"She was telling me about Mitch." Jenny replied, "he seems like a pretty upstanding guy, he just turned nineteen, he's in his second year at Georgetown for Political Science, he skipped a grade and he works as a teaching assistant."

"Older than her." Gibbs pointed out.

He was still holding her and she had felt him tense slightly as soon as she had mentioned his age, she had a feeling he was about to get a whole lot more tense.

"Not by a lot, it's certainly less of an age difference then we have." She reminded him, "and besides they're just friends… She told me something else interesting about him."

"Yeah?"

"He has a two year old daughter."

She felt him tense even more and rested her hands over his, "I don't know the details but Kelly did tell me that his ex had wanted to put her up for adoption but Mitch stepped up and she signed over full custody to him, he's been taking care of Stella ever since."

"Stella's the daughter?"

"Yes." Jenny replied, "I didn't freak out when Kelly told me, I said that as long as they were just friends it wasn't our place to have an opinion and it's not."

"And if they decide to be more than just friends?" Gibbs asked tensely.

"Then we remind her to really think things through, we make some firm ground rules and we support her the best we can." Jenny replied, "I don't think telling her not to see him is the way to go, I don't want to see her get hurt or get into something too serious at her age but she's smart. Kelly's always had a good head on her shoulders and I don't think it's fair to judge Mitch based solely one a mistake he made two years ago. I mean he did step up to the plate and from what Kel's said it sounds like he's a decent guy, and it's not exactly like we have the high ground when it comes to good relationship decisions." She pointed out, "No one treated me differently when they found out about Dani and I'd like to give Mitch the benefit of the doubt."

"You weren't sixteen when you had her." Gibbs reminded her.

"No I was twenty-three." She agreed, "but I was also using some pretty hard drugs and drinking a lot when I got pregnant so again, it's not like I have the moral high ground to judge this kid."

"It's not about a high ground." Gibbs muttered.

"But isn't it though? I only met him for a few minutes but I really don't think this kid is a threat to Kelly in any way, I'm not saying we give the go ahead without meeting him but I think we should try and get to know him without writing him off because of one mistake."

"You're being really understanding about all of this."

"I'm just trying to give him the same treatment I would want if I were in his position." Jenny replied quietly, "I was there not too long ago when I saw your team for the first time after everything came out, they may have been awkward and nervous but they never treated me like less of a person because I made a mistake."

"Alright." Gibbs whispered against her neck, "I'll give him a chance."

"Thank you." She ran her hand up and down his arm before pausing, "Jethro where's the baby?"

"Playing in her room, Dan's in there doing her homework on the floor." Gibbs replied, "did you think I just left our daughter by herself?"

"I never know with you." Jenny deadpanned, "but what I heard from that was all of our kids are busy."

Gibbs hummed and kissed the side of her neck, "what've you got in mind?"

She turned around in his arms and wrapped her own arms around his neck with a small grin, she stood up on her tiptoes and pressed her lips to his. She felt him smirk into the kiss but the smirk died on his lips as she deepened the kiss with a quiet moan. She could feel his fingers playing with the hem of her shirt and she stepped closer to him, pressing her body flush against his. She lightly nipped on his bottom lip when she felt his hand slide under the back of her shirt and sighed happily when began kissing his way down her neck. Her next sigh was one of frustration when he placed one last kiss on her shoulder before stepping away from her.

"Gotta stop." He whispered, "boys'll be in in a minute."

Jenny bit her bottom lip, ran her hand through her hair and nodded. She took a deep breath to calm herself down and grinned when Gibbs leaned down to steal one last quick kiss.

"Incorrigible." She muttered against his lips.

"Yup." He agreed.

She rolled her eyes and watched him grab the basket of folded laundry off of the table before making his way out of the kitchen. As much as she had been enjoying making out with him like a teenager she was relieved that he had slowed things down when the back door flew open as soon as Gibbs had left the kitchen.

"It's cold outside, Mom." Jake informed her seriously.

She looked at his rosy cheeks and bright red nose and laughed, "I can see that, why don't you head upstairs and take a shower, it's almost time for bed."

"Okay." He replied reluctantly, "Bye, Tony, thanks for playing with me."

"Anytime." Tony ruffled the boys hair, "I think I'm going to head out too if you guys are good." He added, turning to Jenny.

"We're good." She assured him, "thanks again for everything."

"Anytime." He repeated sincerely, "I'm just a phone call away, tell Boss and the girls I said goodnight."

"I will, see you tomorrow, Tony."

"Night, Jenny."

The sincere smile he offered her before he let himself out the backdoor was enough to make her night. Things had been steadily improving between them and she was relieved that things, although still a bit tense sometimes, were getting back to normal between them.

She tidied up the kitchen, made Ava a bottle and turned off the lights before making her way upstairs, she found Gibbs already in the nursery sitting with Ava in the rocking chair.

"I made her bottle." She whispered, seeing the baby's drowsy eyes.

"Thanks."

Gibbs took the bottle from her and Jenny carefully leaned down to kiss the top of the baby's head before tiptoeing out of the nursery, shutting of the light as she went. In the hallway she could hear Kelly's muffled voice through her closed bedroom door, she made her way down the hall to Dani's room to give Kelly some privacy and knocked on the younger teens door.

"Hey, how's your homework coming?" She asked as she stepped into the room.

"Just about done, and then I think I'm going to head to bed, it was a busy day today."

As if to support her statement Dani put her hand her hand over her mouth to cover a large yawn.

"Alright I'll let you get back to it then." Jenny replied.

She walked across the room and dropped a quick kiss onto Dani's messy hair and gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze.

"Night, Mom." Dani muttered through another yawn.

"Have a good sleep."

She gave her shoulder one last squeeze before letting herself out of the room, she crossed the hall to Jake's room where he was just climbing into bed in a pair of dinosaur pyjama's McGee had bought him with his hair damp and sticking up every which way.

"Did you brush your teeth?" She asked as she walked into the room.

"Yup." Jake replied.

"You didn't comb your hair though."

"It's just gonna get all messy when I sleep on it anyway." Jake reasoned.

She had to fight against the laugh that wanted to bubble up at his little boy logic, she watched him flop around for a moment trying to get comfortable before she pulled the blankets up around him.

"Make sure you comb it in the morning."

"I will." He promised, "is Daddy gonna come in and say goodnight?"

"As soon as he finishes putting your sister to sleep." She replied, "Now, you have a good sleep and I'll see you in the morning, okay?"

"Okay." He responded tiredly, "Night, Mommy, love you."

"I love you too." She replied softly.

She leaned down and kissed his forehead, brushing his messy hair out of his face as she went, mentally making a note to make him a hair appointment. She straightened up and turned off the lights before leaving the room, making sure to leave the door open a hair.

She couldn't hear anything coming from Kelly's room anymore so she crossed back over and knocked lightly on the door, she poked her head in when Kelly called out a quiet 'come in'. Kelly was sitting at her desk with a textbook and notebook opened in front of her.

"Just wanted to say goodnight." She said, stepping into the room, "try not to stay up too late."

"I won't, I only have a couple of math questions to do and that's it." She replied gesturing to the textbook.

"Okay." Jenny replied with a nod that quickly turned into a grin, "what'd Mitch say about dinner?"

"He'll be here, just let me know what time so I can tell him." Kelly replied, rolling her eyes at the pleased expression on Jenny's face, "should I tell him to bring Stella?"

"Of course." Jenny replied, "There's no point in him hiring a babysitter, besides I'd like to meet her."

"You mean you'd like to see how he parents." Kelly corrected.

"I said no such thing." Jenny defended herself, "this is not a test, we just want to get to know him."

"You don't make me bring my friends from school home for get to know you dinners." Kelly pointed out.

"You have two friends at school and I've met both of them so calm down there." Jenny replied, "and those other friends aren't boys who you snuck in while we weren't home." She added.

Kelly had the good grace to blush and look down, "can you please just promise me one thing?"

"Depends…" Jenny replied.

"Can it please just be us? Not Dad's team or Grandma and Grandpa or worse Aboulita."

"Only us, I don't want to traumatize the boy just yet." Jenny replied, "besides your Aboulita isn't moving until Sunday, so you're dodging a bullet with that."

"Thank God…" Kelly muttered.

"Alright, get back to your homework." She instructed.

"Yes Ma'am." Kelly replied giving her a mock salut.

"Wrong hand." Jenny informed her with mock disappointment, "it's like you don't even come from a military family."

"I have disgraced my family." Kelly replied seriously.

"Never." Jenny whispered, leaning down to kiss the top of her head, "goodnight, Baby."

"Goodnight." Kelly replied quietly, "love you."

"I love you too."

She let herself out of the room and finally made her way down the hall to her own bedroom, she grabbed an older t-shirt and a pair of pyjama bottoms and went into the bathroom to grab a quick shower.

By the time she was done Gibbs had finished putting Ava to bed and saying goodnight to all of the kids and was sitting on the edge of their bed flipping though a book. He stood up when she exited the bathroom and grabbed a small pile of clothes off the bed.

"Gonna grab a shower."

She nodded and let him pass, she tossed her dirty laundry into the hamper and pulled a file to work on before climbing into bed.

**I want to start this by thanking all of the readers who have stuck with me this long and supported not only this story but all of my writing! You guys make all of the time and effort I put into this worthwhile… Now that that's out of the way there's some things I need to say to the people who have been less than helpful… So I'm going to come off as a real jerk in this Authors Note but whatever, I have been super patient about the comments about Ziva, I understand that up until this point she hasn't been the sole focus and I have said before and I will say again that this story IS NOT ABOUT ANY ONE CHARACTER… It is about the team as a family and I had planned for this particular story to have a focus on Jenny and Ziva's relationship as well as their past with Ari, Tali and Eli HOWEVER this doesn't come up until later when we reach the day that Tali died… I bring this up because I've received multiple complaints about the lack of Ziva and that I should take down that it's a Ziva story and inform ALL Ziva fans that this is not a Ziva story… Now I love Ziva and I was really looking forward to writing that part of the story and how it would impact the Jenny and Gibbs relationship but I have to say that I'm getting a bit pissed off with the comments telling me how and what to do with my story… I am always open to suggestions, CONSTRUCTIVE criticism and prompts I happily welcome them however I am NOT open to blatant demands, I apologize for this rant but I had a crappy day and starting it with a really negative comment on my story definitely didn't help… Now I really hope everyone enjoyed this chapter, I absolutely love to hear all of you and a huge shout out to Isla who listened to me bitch about everything all afternoon! I own nothing but thank you all once again for the amazing support!**

**~Katie**


	17. Chapter 17

**OKAY MASSIVE TRIGGER WARNINGS! Mentions of Drug use, addiction and miscarriages****in this chapter! Please if these things trigger you, PM me and I'll give you a summary as to what happened in this chapter! **

Seventeen 

By the time Gibbs returned from his shower Jenny was placing her file down on the bedside table and pulling off her glasses, he hadn't been long in the shower but she was tired after a full day at work followed by the drama that had been coming home.

"Did you already say goodnight to the kids?" She asked quietly.

"Yeah, Jake was out cold when I went in though."

She chuckled quietly, "he wore himself out playing with Tony."

"DiNozzo's gotten better with kids." Gibbs commented as he climbed into bed, "used to be scared of them."

Jenny outright laughed at that and shook her head as she reached up to turn off the lamp on her side of the bed.

"You can read for a bit if you want." She offered through a yawn.

"I'm ready for bed."

He turned off his lamp and laid down beside her, she rolled over and rested her head on his shoulder. She smiled to herself when she felt his hand slip up the back of her shirt to rest on her lower back just above her tattoos and tried to distract herself from the fact that she was no longer wearing pyjama bottoms and that there was very little separating them. She shivered when he started to brush his thumb back and forth across her back but covered it up by burrowing deeper under the covers.

"Can I ask ya something." Gibbs asked, breaking the comfortable silence.

"Always." She responded quietly.

She moved her hand back and slid it up under his shirt so it was resting on his bare chest and gently toyed with the hair she found there.

"The drugs."

She tensed and was suddenly grateful that the room was pitch black except for the small amount of light streaming in under the door.

"'M not judging." He clarified quickly.

"What do you want to know?" She asked with a small sigh.

"What were you using?" He asked after a moment.

"I tried a lot of stuff." She admitted quietly, "Pot, LSD, MDMA a couple of other pills and I did try Cocaine a couple of times, the high is good but coming down isn't great and that kept me away from it."

Her hand had stilled on Gibbs' chest as she spoke and she could almost hear him processing everything she had just said. She didn't know what he had assumed she had meant by drugs but she was willing to bet he hadn't assumed Cocaine would be part of the deal.

"I've been in recovery for fifteen years." She whispered, "I'm not going to relapse now, Jethro if that's what you're worried about."

"I wasn't."

"Your heart beats just a little bit faster when you're lying." She whispered, "it's fine that you're worried, we have four kids and your partner is an addict it's not exactly the ideal situation."

"You're not-"

"Yes I am." She cut him off gently, "just because I don't use anymore doesn't mean I'm not an addict just like it doesn't mean I'm not an alcoholic because I don't drink anymore. I have an addictive personality, it's a part of who I am… It's not the part that defines me but it is a part of me, a part that I recognize and am very careful to control so it doesn't take over my life again."

She started brushing her fingers back and forth over his chest slowly and shrugged with the shoulder that wasn't pinned under her.

"I should have told you before we did this." She admitted quietly, "so that you could have at least made an informed decision about who you had a family with."

"It wouldn't've changed anything." He replied firmly.

"It might've." She whispered, "and that's fine but I can promise you that I will choose you and our children over alcohol and drugs every single time."

"I know." Gibbs assured her, "you've proven that."

She had given up the drugs as soon as she had found out she was pregnant with Dani and the drinking had ended as soon as she had found out she was pregnant with Lilly, it had really only started up as badly as it had been after Tali had died. Losing another little girl had been too much for her and she had spiralled hard before returning Stateside.

"Ever miss it?" He asked after a few minutes of silence.

"Yes and no." She replied slowly, "I miss the high, the numbness that came with it but I don't miss coming down, I don't miss the disappointed look on my Mom's face when I came home after a week long binge hungover and still a bit strung out or high… I used it to dull the pain, drugs for my father, I started drinking again and took up smoking after I gave up Dani, I gave it all up when I found out I was pregnant again and started drinking after I lost Lilian, it got worse after we lost Tali…. I got it together when we lost Ari, Ziva needed me so I cut back, I had one kid left, couldn't lose her too… And then Ziva settled in and found her place and then you left, La Grenouille came on the scene and it all went to hell again."

"And then?" He prompted gently.

"Then we had the kids and everything changed, it stopped being about me and became all about them… I didn't need drugs or alcohol to give me that high because having our kids, our family is enough for me… Are there still days where I want to drink or use? One hundred percent, will I though? Absolutely not."

She felt his thumb begin to brush back and forth across her back again and took a deep breath feeling very shaky all of a sudden. Although it wasn't the _biggest _secret she had ever kept from him it was definitely right up there and it was one that brought back a lot of bad memories with it.

"I think I need to go outside for a minute." She whispered.

"You okay?"

"Yeah." She replied her voice cracking, "I just need a minute, and a smoke… Speaking of addictions." She let out a humourless and self-deprecating laugh.

"Jen." He tried to convey both his concern and his disapproval at putting herself down with his voice but she just waved him off. "Do you want company?"

"No, I just need to be alone for a minute." She replied, "please." She added almost desperately.

When he gave a small nod she rolled over and pulled on the pair of pyjama bottoms she had left folded on her nightstand before standing up and grabbing her lighter and pack of cigarettes from where she had hidden them in her nightstand. She nearly bolted from the room and made her way downstairs and out to the back deck.

Outside she sat on the top stair to the deck and lit her cigarette, taking a long drag and running her free hand through her hair. It took a moment but slowly the shaking stopped as she let the cool air around her and the nicotine in her hand calm her. She was still only up to maybe five cigarettes a week at the absolute max, sheer force of will the only thing stopping her from going back to her pack a day habit but she wasn't sure she'd ever be able to give up this particular vice. She needed something for when the anxiety and memories crept in and took over, she had debated asking her doctor for a PRN or some sort of anxiety medication but she had been too afraid of getting hooked on those. A well controlled cigarette habit seemed to be the safest, she didn't stray from cigarettes to anything else, pills weren't always as safe for her.

She took a few more deep drags before putting out the last of the cigarette and heading back upstairs. She made a beeline for the bathroom and quickly brushed her teeth and changed her shirt before crawling back into bed. She didn't curl back up to Gibbs but rather stayed on her side of the bed still far too tense to sleep. She laid on her back staring up at the ceiling and listened to Gibbs breath beside her.

She tensed momentarily when he rolled over and rested his hand on her abdomen over the blankets.

"I'm sorry." He whispered.

She rolled her head over at him in surprise. He had gotten better about that particular rule but it was still rare that he apologized for anything unless it was to set an example for Jake.

"For what?" She asked with a small exhale.

"For bringing it all back up."

"You deserved to know." She replied with a small shrug, "if there's even a chance it could affect our kids you deserve to know about it."

"You don't let it affect our kids."

"Not right now." She replied quietly, "but just because I have it under control doesn't mean that we shouldn't keep an eye on Dani, it's hereditary and both her father and I were users… She has a much higher chance of being predisposed to addiction than Kelly might be… And if something were to ever happen to me then that's something you have to deal with and something you need to know about."

"Don't wanna think about that." He said quickly.

"But at some point we have to." She reminded him, "it's not like our jobs are safe, and there are more than enough things that can go wrong that aren't even related to that…"

"I know." He sighed quietly and rubbed his hand over her abdomen as if to prove his point, "I know." He repeated his voice barely a whisper.

She placed her hand on top of his and gave it a gentle squeeze, "Some days I wish you had never found out about her… But there's a really selfish part of me that's relieved to not have to feel the pain alone anymore." She admitted quietly.

He shifted down on the bed until hew as eye level with her stomach and placed a gentle kiss on her abdomen before laying his head over the spot and resting his hand directly beside it. She reached down and threaded her fingers through his hair with one hand and covered his hand with the other.

"I miss her so much." She whispered, her voice cracking.

She blinked as she felt the tears suddenly overwhelm her and overflow onto her cheeks, she took a shuddering breath and felt Gibbs' hand turn over so he could lace their fingers together. It was a small comfort but it did nothing to stop the tears and soon she could feel a small damp spot on her shirt where Gibbs' head was resting. It broke her heart to realize that he was crying right along with her.

"I'm so sorry, baby." She muttered her voice watery and strangled by the lump in her throat.

She felt him squeeze her hand and couldn't help the lump that grew in her throat as he turned his face more into her shirt

"Me too." He murmured hoarsely.

She ran her fingers through his hair gently and listened as he took a shuddering breath that ended in something between a cough and a small sob. A sound that she had never heard from Gibbs and that made her throat close up even more. She hated that he was suffering, she would do anything to take away his pain but she knew there was nothing to be done. The only thing they could do was feel it and she was so grateful that if they had to go through it they could do it as a team.

**So that got real dark real quick, I honestly don't know where the hell this came from but I'm going to roll with it since it's already written… I hope you guys enjoyed (that's probably not the right word) it, and I really hope Isla isn't crying into her bagel right now (if you are then sorry girl)… I do not own anything but I love to hear from all of you.**

**~Katie**


	18. Chapter 18

Eighteen

The next morning she opened her eyes blearily, she could feel a heavy weight on her stomach and looked down to see Gibbs still sound asleep. At some point in the night he had shifted so he was laying between her legs, she had one leg tucked over his hip and the other tangled in his legs, her shirt had inched up to just below her ribs and Gibbs' head was resting on her bare stomach, his hand gripping her hip.

Gibbs had never been an overly cuddly sleeper, they often gravitated towards each other during the night and fell asleep with her in his arms but they always separated enough to be comfortable. But this morning they were completely intertwined, Jenny moved one arm behind her to support her head and gently ran her fingers through Gibbs' hair. He was less tense then he had been the night before but she could tell that his sleep hadn't been exactly peaceful. Her own dreams had been filled with people she had lost, never bad enough to wake her up, just enough to make her suffer all night in a world she couldn't escape.

She felt Gibbs stir against her and looked down as he nuzzled his face against her before dropping a light kiss to her abdomen.

"Hey." She greeted softly.

"Hi." He whispered hoarsely, his voice rough from sleep and crying the night before, "Jen, I'm-"

"Don't say you're sorry." She ordered softly, "please."

"Okay." He muttered, "you okay?"

She thought about his question for a moment and then shook her head slowly, she wasn't okay, she was sad, she was tired even though she had slept all night and she felt the worst kind of numb all of a sudden.

"I just..." She trailed off, "I don't know."

He pushed himself up and moved up the bed so he was laying next to her and moved so he was on his back, he placed a hand on her hip and gently pulled her towards him until she ways laying half on top of him.

"I get it."

She sighed as he ran his hands through her hair and nuzzled her nose against his shoulder.

"I have to meet with my lawyer this morning." She muttered after a few minutes of silence, "sign the last of the papers for the house."

"You sure you're ready to let it go?" He asked quietly.

She thought about it for a moment before nodding, "I think so… There are a lot of memories there but I'm ready to make new memories, in _our_ home."

He pulled her tighter against his side and kissed the top of her head, she curled against him and kissed the side of his neck before closing her eyes again.

"You should move your stuff in here." She commented quietly

She felt him shift to try and look down at her probably unsure if he had heard her correctly.

"Your clothes and stuff I mean." She clarified.

"You askin' me to move in with you, Jen?"

She smirked against his shoulder, "Well since we already live together and have four kids..."

"You sure?" He asked more seriously.

"I wouldn't have asked if I wasn't." She replied quietly, "I already moved some things around in the closet and dresser to make room for your stuff."

"Okay."

She tilted her head up with a small smile and claimed his lips in a gentle kiss, she was about to deepen it when her alarm started going off on the bedside table. She dropped her forehead to his shoulder with a groan and blindly hit the table until the alarm turned off.

N*C*I*S

Jenny blew a stray hair out of her face and brushed the back of her hand over her forehead. She had spent the last half hour moving the last of her boxes out of her house and into the back of Gibbs' truck to bring home. The new owner wouldn't get the keys for another week but she had wanted to be done with everything after spending an hour signing the last of the papers with her lawyer early that morning. Gibbs had offered to come and help her but she had wanted to have a bit of time alone in the house.

She was finally at a point in her life where she was ready to move on from the memories but it was still the house she had grown up in. She had taken her prom photos on the front stair case, she and Heather had created forts in the attic on rainy days… As much as she was ready to leave the bad she had to admit that she would miss the good memories.

She picked up the last box waiting for her in her father's study and was just about to take it outside when the front door opened.

"Jenny?"

She put the box down and brushed her hands off on her jeans as she made her way out of the office and into the foyer where the real-estate agent who had sold her house was standing.

"Hi, Sheila, I didn't know you'd be coming by." Jenny said, "I'm just grabbing the last of my boxes."

"Don't worry about it." Sheila waived her off, "The new owner just wanted to come by and take some measurements."

"Okay, no problem, I'll be leaving in another minute anyway."

She went back into the study and grabbed the last box off of the floor before making her way back out into the foyer, the front door opened just as she was about to leave and she stopped dead in her tracks when she saw the older woman on the other side. Jenny hadn't seen her in almost thirty years she was older, her face more wrinkled, her hair shorter than Jenny remembered but she would recognize the woman anywhere. Her mother.

**Just a short chapter... Things are heating up up in here! Hope everyone had a great weekend and a great week ahead and for all of my Canadian readers (Ontario girl here) HAPPY CANADA DAY!**

**~Katie**


	19. Chapter 19

Nineteen 

Jenny splashed cold water over her face and took a shuddering breath. She was thankful that Gibbs was still at work with Ava and the three older kids were all in their rooms doing homework so no one had to see her in her current state. She had slipped around her mother and out the door before she had even been able to say a word. The kids had already been home and in their rooms when she got home and she had come in quietly so as not to alert them to her presence.

She dried her face and took one last breath before going downstairs to unload the boxes from the back of Gibbs' truck. She debated calling one of the kids to help her but decided to leave them to their homework. She started a pot of coffee before she went outside knowing that by the time she was done she'd be in desperate need of the caffeine. An emotionally exhausting night the night before, barely sleeping on top of a brutal morning at work followed by seeing her mother had worn her out completely.

She was halfway through unloading the truck when she heard the sound of gravel crunching in the driveway, she looked up with a tired smile fully expecting it to be Gibbs but her smile faltered when it was a small black BMW rather then their SUV. She brushed her hair off of her face and watched as the car came to a stop before the door opened.

She tensed and narrowed her eyes when she saw who it was.

"How did you get this address?" She asked, her voice not giving anything away.

"You left your wallet at the house, I thought you might want it back."

"Sheila could have brought it for me." Jenny replied, "you shouldn't be here."

"I wanted to see you." Karen Shepard replied calmly, "you've grown up."

Jenny crossed her arms over her chest and pursed her lips in a thin line, "yes well thirty years will do that."

"I wanted to talk to you." Karen ignored her statement.

"I have nothing to say to you." Jenny stated coldly, "you need to leave."

"Mommy!"

She turned around at the sound of Jake's voice and saw him leaning out of the open front door.

"I'll be in in a minute." Jenny called back, "go back inside please."

"But, Mom-"

"Inside please." Jenny replied kindly but firmly.

She could see Jake sigh in resignation before he nodded and disappeared back into the house, closing the door behind him.

"You have a child." Karen stated, looking at her daughter in awe.

"You need to leave." Jenny repeated, "and you need to stay away from here."

"Can I just have your phone number?" Karen asked, "Maybe we can meet up for coffee or something?"

Jenny looked behind her and could see not only Jake but now Dani standing in the living room window that faced out on the front yard. She looked back to Karen and could see the look of determination on her face, she finally sighed and gestured for Karen to give her her phone. She typed in her phone number and handed Karen back her phone before taking her wallet from the older woman.

"You need to go now."

Karen nodded, "Thank you."

Jenny crossed her arms tighter over her chest and didn't say anything as Karen got back into her car and slowly pulled out of the driveway. She took a deep breath and ran her hand through her hair before grabbing another box out of the truck. She ignored the questioning looks Dani and Jake both shot her way as she walked into the house and dropped the box at the bottom of the stairs.

"How were your days?" Jenny asked, looking between them.

"Good, we have soccer practice after school tomorrow." Jake replied.

"Okay, I think it's Uncle Toby's turn to pick you up." Jenny turned to Dani, "How was your day?"

"It was fine." Dani replied, "who was outside?"

"No one important." Jenny responded vaguely, "Your dad should be home in half an hour, I'm going to bring in the last of those boxes and get started on supper."

"Do you need any help?" Jake asked.

"No." Jenny replied, "Is your homework done?"

"Nope."

"Then you know what I'm about to tell you."

Jake sighed and slowly made his way back up the stairs, she almost laughed at the look on his face but managed to keep herself under control.

"Do you want me to go turn on the oven?" Dani offered.

"Sure thanks, Babe." Jenny replied, "I only have two boxes left I'll be in in a minute."

N*C*I*S

By the time Gibbs got home Jenny and Dani had dinner well on the way to being finished, Jenny was finishing mashing potatoes while Dani checked on the carrots that were boiling on the stove. Gibbs put Ava's car seat down on the counter and gave Dani's shoulder a squeeze and then wrapped an arm around Jenny's waist and kissed the side of her head.

"Hey." He greeted quietly, "got all of your boxes moved?"

"Yeah, there are two that I need you to move up to the attic after supper if you can." She replied, "can you call Jake to set the table? We're just about done here."

"It smells good." Gibbs commented, looking over her shoulder.

"Meatloaf, my mother's recipe." Jenny replied.

She turned and saw the small grin on Gibbs' face and shook her head, she knew he had a weak spot for Lydia's meatloaf, anything Lydia made really but she was happy that he actually seemed excited about something she had cooked.

"I'll go get Jake, and I'll put Ava in her highchair."

"Thanks."

Jenny turned her head and gave him another quick peck before he turned and grabbed Ava's car seat off of the counter.

Two minutes later Kelly and Jake were both clattering around to set the table while Dani and Jenny finished putting everything onto the table.

N*C*I*S

Jenny laid Ava down in her crib with a weary sigh, it was after midnight and it was the third time the baby had been up that night. She and Gibbs were switching off actually getting up but she knew neither of them was actually sleeping while the other was with the baby. She adjusted her pyjama top from where the baby had pulled it down and ran her hands through her hair before returning to her room.

"Baby asleep?" Gibbs asked quietly as she crawled back into bed.

"No, I left her on the floor in her room to play." She sighed, "I'm sorry… I'm tired."

Gibbs rolled over and placed a hand on her hip, "it's okay, I know… Go back to sleep."

"Before I do that I need to tell you something." She admitted quietly, "I was going to tell you earlier but things got crazy."

"Okay?"

"I saw my mother today." She said quietly.

"Didn't think Lydia was coming back until Saturday." Gibbs commented.

"Not Lydia… My biological mother." Jenny corrected, "I was at my place picking up the last of my boxes and she showed up… She's the new owner."

"Aw hell, Jen." He muttered, "you okay?"

"I'm fine, but I panicked when I saw her and bolted and forgot my wallet at the house… She found it and brought it back."

"So she knows where we live." Gibbs finished for her, "did the kids see her?"

"Jake and Dani, I didn't let her near them and I didn't tell them who she was." Jenny assured him, "She said she wanted to talk to me, I gave her my cell number to get her to leave but I don't know if I'll actually talk to her."

"You do what's best for you." Gibbs replied.

"And if I talk to her?"

"Then I'll be here." He replied simply.

"I need to think about it." Jenny said slowly, "but she's not getting anywhere near the kids, I promise."

Gibbs nodded and leaned forward to kiss her forehead, Jenny sighed softly and tucked her arm under her head ready to go back to sleep. She had just closed her eyes when she heard a loud bang and a small scream from across the hall. Jenny and Gibbs both threw off their blankets and bolted across the hall to Kelly's room.

Jenny let the nightlight in the hallway dimly illuminate the room and could see Kelly sitting on the bed, her knees pulled to her chest with tears streaming down her face.

"What's wrong, Kel?" She asked stepping closer.

"I can't… I… So much blood…."

As she got closer she could see Kelly's entire body shaking like a leaf, her eyes were screwed shut tightly and she was shaking her head back and forth.

"Daddy." She whimpered, her chin trembling as she started to shake worse, "Daddy, help…"

"Hey." Gibbs whispered softly as he sat beside her on the edge of the bed, "I'm right here."

"Daddy." Her voice cracked with a large sob and she tightened her grip on her knees even further, "so much blood."

"I've got you Kel." Gibbs whispered reaching out to brush her hair back, "Daddy's right here, I've got you." He settled his hand on her cheek and brushed his thumb back and forth, "you're safe."

"It hurts…" She sobbed.

"What hurts, baby?" Jenny asked quietly.

"It hurts." She repeated.

"Kelly, open your eyes, you're safe." Gibbs instructed gently, "open your eyes and look at me, look at Daddy."

Kelly shook her head, her eyes still tightly screwed shut. Jenny sat down on the other side of the bed and carefully took Kelly's hand in her own.

"Kelly." She said gently, "Open your eyes, you had a nightmare… I know it's scary… I know it hurts but can you open your eyes and show me what hurts? Please, Baby?"

She ran her hand back and forth over Kelly's hand gently and slowly felt her to relax, not a lot but enough that her eyes slowly opened as Jenny continued to speak to her calmingly.

"Mommy." She looked at Jenny and her voice cracked as she leaned forward.

"It's okay…" Jenny whispered, pulling the shaking teen into her arms, "Mommy's got you."

She felt Gibbs' hand on her back and looked over to see him watching Kelly with a pained expression, his eyes watery before he rested his other hand on Kelly's back.

"Mommy and Daddy are both here." Jenny whispered against Kelly's hair, "We've got you, Baby… You're okay."

It took well over ten minutes before Kelly stopped shaking and she could feel Gibbs' hand rubbing up and down her back as the teen sobbed into her shoulder. Her own heart was breaking and she couldn't even begin to imagine how Gibbs felt watching helplessly as his baby fell apart in front of him.

"You're okay…" Jenny whispered again, "it's gonna be okay, I promise."

"I'm sorry." Kelly muttered against Jenny's neck, her voice shaky with tears but she seemed considerably more calm.

"Hey don't apologize." Gibbs said gently, "everyone has nightmares."

"And you are more than entitled to a few." Jenny added, "are you feeling okay now? Before you said it hurt."

Kelly pulled away from Jenny and ran her hands up and down her arms, she looked between her parents and hesitated for a moment before rolling up her sleeves and reaching over to flick on her bedside lamp.

"I'm okay… Sometimes if I have a really vivid nightmare they start to hurt again."

Jenny looked at the raised scars on Kelly's arms, on her left arm she had a six inch scar that ran from an inch below her elbow and up under her sleeve and one that ran from the inside of her elbow to two inches above her wrist. On her right arm there was only one running jaggedly up from three inches above her wrist and up below her sleeve. She had no idea how neither she or Gibbs had ever seen the scars but as she looked back she couldn't remember Kelly ever wearing a short sleeved shirt without some sort of sweater over it and she almost never rolled up her sleeves except to wash her hands.

"I was wearing a short-sleeve shirt when it happened." She said softly, "I honestly don't remember how they happened, they've always just been there."

Jenny's eyes strayed over to Gibbs who was clearly fighting for control as he looked at his daughters arms.

"There are a few on the back of my neck too and you can feel them if you touch my scalp but other than that… It could've been a lot worse."

Jenny reached out and grabbed Kelly's hand again, "why didn't you tell us?" She asked softly.

"I don't like people to know… I don't want people to think I'm weak."

"No." Gibbs said firmly, "you're not weak, Kel."

"You are _so _strong." Jenny added in a much softer tone, "You are an amazing young woman, baby and Daddy and I are so proud of you."

"Thank you." Kelly whispered.

"Do you want us to stay with you a bit or do you want to try and go back to sleep?" Jenny asked.

"I think I'll try and go back to sleep."

"Okay." Jenny leaned forward and dropped a kiss onto Kelly's forehead, "if you need anything just come and get us, okay?"

"Okay." Kelly replied.

"Love you, Kel." Jenny whispered.

"Love you too."

She stood up and stepped out of the room so Gibbs could say goodnight in private before making her way back to their bedroom. She was just climbing into bed when Gibbs let himself into the room and closed the door behind him.

"Are you okay?" She asked gently.

She could see the defeat in his hunched shoulders and she could tell by his breathing that he was having a hard time keeping himself together as he climbed into bed.

"No." He admitted quietly.

She heard his voice crack and reached forward to place a hand on his cheek and felt the damp trail of tears under her hand.

"That was not your fault, Jethro." She whispered firmly, "Don't you dare blame yourself for that."

She rolled onto her back and pulled him over with her, she ran her hands through his hair as he buried his face in her chest. She continued to run her hand over his hair soothingly until she felt his breathing even out. She closed her eyes and attempted to sleep but she knew that it would not be a restful night.

**I hope everyone enjoyed… This may seem a bit OOC with the Gibbs we know and love but in my mind he would have been a much softer person if Kelly had lived, he has always been a softy around kids ****_so to _****me this did make sense… I don't own anything but I love to hear from you guys!**

**~Katie**


	20. Chapter 20

Twenty 

Jenny rubbed her temples with a weary sigh, her head was pounding and she was honestly considering throwing up on her desk. She was exhausted and she had spent the entire morning in meetings in MTAC. The dark room had helped with the headache but the content of the meetings had only made it worse.

She picked up her phone at smiled at the text waiting for her from Kelly, a selfie of her and Dani sitting in the school cafeteria. She saved the picture to her phone before putting it back down and returning to the files in front of her.

She managed to work in relative peace for almost half an hour before the quiet was interrupted by her office door swinging open.

"Special Agent Gibbs, the door is closed for a reason." She said wearily.

"Oh you're gonna wanna see this." Gibbs replied dimly.

"This?" A familiar voice replied, "Really, Jethro?"

Jenny groaned and buried her head in her hands as she recognized her sisters voice.

"Nice response." Heather deadpanned.

"Hello, Heather." Jenny greeted, attempting to make her voice sound at least mildly excited, "What're you doing here?"

"Well Dad's lawyer called and said that you sold the house, I thought I would come and see it one last time and help you move Mami into her place on Sunday." Heather explained.

"You didn't call." Jenny replied slowly.

"Well neither have you." Heather pointed out, "I had to find out about the house from the lawyer and your _kids_ from Mom."

Jenny winced and ran her hand through her hair. She and Heather had been close before her father had passed but they had grown apart after that, Heather had taken her two month old daughter and moved to California to get away from all of the details and media attention surrounding their fathers death and Jenny had stayed behind with Lydia to try and cope with the media, the estate, a grieving Lydia and her own grief. She obviously hadn't handled it well and there had been a part of her that had always been a bit bitter about the fact that Heather had never even offered to help with anything.

"Where's Sarah?" Jenny asked, hoping to change the subject to a safer topic.

"At the hotel." Heather replied, "She was tired from the flight."

"When did you get in?" Jenny asked.

"A couple of hours ago."

"So again, why didn't you call?"

"Because you would've told me not to come."

Jenny raised an eyebrow but didn't argue the point, she was probably right. Gibbs raised an eyebrow at her and she half rolled her eyes.

"And I'd like to meet your _children."_

The way she said children told Jenny exactly what her sister thought about the entire situation.

"Would you like to come over for supper?" Jenny asked after a moment of silence., "then you can meet the kids."

"Sure." Heather replied, "what time?"

"Um, come for five, Jake and Dani have soccer practice after school, I doubt they'll be home before then."

"Sounds good." Heather replied, "I'll leave you to finish your work, I assume you'll send me the address?"

"I'll text it to you." Jenny promised.

They exchanged terse goodbyes and Jenny folded her arms on her desk and dropped her head down with a groan as soon as Heather was gone and Gibbs had closed her office door.

"You okay?" Gibbs asked carefully.

"No." She muttered, her voice muffled, "my head hurts, my mother is lurking around the city, I got an hour of sleep last night and now my sister is coming over to criticize our house and kids."

"I'm sure she's not-"

Jenny silenced him with a pointed look, he tilted his head to the side in acknowledgement.

"I only have a few reports left to sign off on, I think I'm going to head home and try and get some cleaning done and figure out something for supper and I'll finish the reports after supper."

"Do you want me to pick the kids up from soccer?" Gibbs asked.

"No, it's Tobias' turn." Jenny replied, "but if you don't catch a case could you maybe come home and give me a hand with everything?"

"Sure, give me an hour, got a bit of paperwork to finish up and then I'll be home." He promised.

"Thanks."

She really wanted to lean up and kiss him but she didn't want to break her strict no affection at the office rule.

N*C*I*S

Jenny placed the last dish in the dishwasher and listened with a small smile at Kelly, Dani and Sarah chatting easily at the kitchen table. Her fifteen year old niece had instantly clicked with her daughters and she was relieved that at least something was going right with the evening. Gibbs had been called out on a case and hadn't been able to make it home, her sister had been distant the whole evening, Jake had ended up calling and begging to go to Tobias' for super leaving only Jenny and the girls for dinner.

Heather was leaning against the counter with a cup of coffee in her hand watching Jenny finish the dishes.

"Kelly can you text Abby and ask her if your father is back at the Navy Yard yet?"

"Yeah, do you want me to go and pick up Jake if he isn't going to be able to make it home?"

Jenny glanced over at the clock, "If you don't have homework." She replied with a small sigh.

"I just have a few things to do, I can finish it when I get home."

"Thanks, Babe." Jenny, replied.

She closed the dishwasher and poured herself a mug of coffee before picking up the baby and nodding towards the living room. She set Ava down on the floor with a few toys and then sat down on the couch folding her legs under her.

"It's a nice house." Heather commented, looking around.

"We like it." Jenny replied, "it's the perfect size for our family."

"Your family." Heather repeated, "how long are you going to play house for, Jenny?"

Jenny looked at her in disbelief, "I'm sorry, what?"

"Come on, Jenny." Heather scoffed, "you're raising three kids who aren't yours and one you gave up for a reason with a man who can't even bother to come home for dinner, you're wearing wedding rings even though you're not married and you live in a house you bought on a whim."

"You did not just say that."

"It's the truth." Heather replied with a shrug.

"Okay first of all, Kelly, Jake and Ava are my children regardless of whether I physically carried them and you do _not _get to make comments about Dani because you weren't around. Do not comment on my relationship, Jethro couldn't make it home because he had an important case, and last of all none of my decisions were made on a whim. This is my family, Heather, get on board with it."

Heather looked at her with wide eyes, "fine, I'm just concerned about you."

"Don't be." Jenny replied firmly, "I love my kids, I love my partner and I love our family, now drop it."

She heard her words after she said it but didn't take back what she had said about Gibbs, she would probably never tell him to his face again but she meant it. She really did love him, even if he had subjected her to a night of hell alone.

"Sarah and I should probably get going, thanks for supper and the coffee." Heather stood up, "I'll call you tomorrow about a plan for Sunday."

"Okay, Mami is coming in late Saturday afternoon, she's going to stay the night here and then the moving truck is coming Sunday at one." Jenny replied, "but I'll let you know if that changes, you can come for supper Saturday if you want."

"I'll talk to Sarah and get back to you." Heather replied.

N*C*I*S

Jenny laughed as she towelled Ava off after her bath, the baby flashed her a toothy grin as she wiggled around on Jenny's large bed.

"What're you doing, Monkey?" She asked with another laugh, "Are you all clean now?" She cooed.

Ava rolled over onto her stomach and tried to crawl away, she giggled when Jenny pulled her back and blew a raspberry on her stomach.

"Are you running from Mommy?"

She grabbed the diaper and onesie she had waiting on the bed and wrestled the baby into it.

"Hey, Ma?"

Jenny turned around to see Dani leaning against the door in her pyjamas while towelling off her damp hair.

"Yeah?" Jenny asked.

"Kelly just texted, she and Jake are on their way home. She wanted me to let you know to hold off on putting the last load of laundry in, Jake's uniform is dirty."

"Okay." She replied, "is your lunch made for tomorrow?"

"Yup, is Kelly's boyfriend still coming for supper tomorrow night?"

"Your sister's _friend_ is coming for supper, please don't harass her about it."

"You take all the fun out of having a sister." Dani replied with an exaggerated sigh.

"Just wait until it's your turn to bring a boy home."

Dani quickly looked away and shrugged, "yeah." She said quietly, "I'm going to go read in bed for a bit before I go to sleep."

"Sure, have a good sleep." Jenny replied, "love you."

"Night." Dani called over her shoulder.

Jenny had just finished putting Ava in her crib when Kelly and Jake got home. She shut the nursery door behind her softly and quickly stepped out of the way as Jake bolted past her and slammed the door to his room. She winced and waited for any sound to indicate that the baby had woken up and sighed in relief when it remained silent. Once that minor crisis was averted she turned to Kelly who was making her way down the hallway.

"What was that all about?" She asked nodding towards Jake's room.

"He got into a fight at soccer." Kelly replied quietly, "the coach let it off with a warning because it was the first time for both boys and neither would admit what the fight was about... Next time they're benched for the next five games."

Jenny leaned against the wall and ran her hand over her face, "did he tell you what it was about?"

"He wouldn't say a word on the way home." Kelly replied. "Sorry."

"It's not your fault." She sighed, "Thank you for picking him up, I'll go talk to him."

"No problem, I'm going to go grab a shower and then do homework before bed."

"Okay, goodnight."

Jenny accepted a quick hug from the teen before making her way down the hall to Jake's room. She knocked lightly and slowly opened the door when Jake didn't respond, she found him laying face down on the bed with his face buried in his pillow.

"Hey, Buddy." She said quietly.

"Go away." Jake muttered.

She shut the door behind her and sat down on the edge of his bed and ran her hand up and down his back. Part of her wanted to yell and demand he tell her why he had gotten into a fight but she knew that it wouldn't get her anywhere and would only make him more upset.

"Kelly told me what happened, do you want to tell me why you got into a fight?" She asked gently.

He muttered something into the pillow but Jenny couldn't quite catch what he had said.

"Can you say that again?" She asked.

Jake rolled his face out of the pillow and looked up at her, "Ethan said that you and Daddy weren't really my parents."

"Why did he say that?" Jenny asked carefully.

"Because we don't have the same last name, you and Dani and Daddy and Kelly have the same last name but I don't."

Jenny ran her hand over Jake's back comfortingly, "just because we don't have the same last name doesn't mean that Daddy and I aren't your parents."

"But all of the other kids in my class have the same last name as their parents." Jake replied quietly.

"Our family is special." Jenny said, "We don't have the same last names because we're blended."

"But why do Dani and Kelly have the same last names as you and Daddy?"

"Well..." Jenny trailed off, trying to figure out how to word it properly, "Well you know that Daddy and Shannon had Kelly, so she had their last name and Dani has my last name because I had her... Just because Daddy and I didn't _have_ you doesn't make you any less our son."

"Why can't I have your last name?"

"Would you want to have one of our last names?" Jenny asked slowly.

"Yeah…" He replied, "but I don't think I can."

"I think if it's something you really wanted we might be able to figure something out." Jenny replied, "I'll talk to Daddy about it but in the meantime I need you to not get in anymore fights."

"Am I in trouble?"

Jenny sighed and ran her hands through her hair, "You can't be fighting with other people, even if they say something you don't like… But if you promise to never let it happen again then you're not in trouble_ this time._"

"It won't happen again." He promised.

"If it does you'll be grounded for a very, very long time." Jenny warned.

"Okay." He replied solemnly.

"I love you." Jenny said quietly, "now go and shower and then get to bed."

"I love you too, Mommy."

She ran her hand over Jake's hair and pushed herself off of the bed. She made sure the blankets were pulled up around him before letting herself out of the room, turning off the light as she went.

N*C*I*S

Downstairs she made sure that all of the kids had their lunches packed and their bags ready to go before making her own lunch. By the time she was done her head was absolutely pounding and she knew that the painkillers she had taken earlier were wearing off. She gripped the edge of the kitchen counter and bent forward, attempting to stretch out her neck and relieve some of the tension.

"You okay?"

Her head flew up and she winced as she twisted awkwardly to see Gibbs standing in the doorway to the kitchen.

"Holy crap!" She exclaimed her hand flying over her heart, "you scared the hell out of me."

"Didn't mean to." He replied sheepishly, "how did dinner with your sister go?"

"Exactly how I thought it was going to." She replied dryly, "but it's over, she'll be back for supper on Saturday though."

"Sorry I couldn't make it home."

"It's not worth breaking your rule over." She teased gently, "It's not the end of the world."

"Then what's bothering you?"

Her tired expression must have given her away because Gibbs' voice was unusually gentle when he asked the question.

"Jake got into a fight at soccer." She informed him quietly, "His coach is letting it slide this time and I told him there'd better not be a next time."

"That's not like him." Gibbs commented, "What was the fight about?"

"Some kid on his team told him that we weren't really his parents because we didn't have the same last name." Jenny replied, "I told him that it wasn't true but… I can't stop thinking about that case with Carson."

"What about it?"

"We're Jake's parents, we know that and he knows that but if something were to happen to either of us legally there's nothing to stop Child Services from taking the kids… I mean it's the same with us, if something were to happen to either of us legally we don't get to make decisions, we got lucky last time you got hurt, there were no major decisions that had to be made." Jenny said, "the house is in both of our names but that's it, legally you have no rights to Dani and I have none to Kelly and if a judge makes the decision then neither of us has any right to Jake and Ava."

She ran her hand through her hair and sighed.

"I don't want to be in the same position Carson's stepmother was in, I don't want to lose access to my kids just because I'm not married to their father or because they're not biologically mine." She admitted quietly, "I don't want to get sick or you to get hurt and not be able to make decisions… Right now there's nothing legally covering our asses if something happens."

"So let's get married."

**So this was originally going to stay as one part but right now I'm looking at this being being well over forty chapters and I always have a problem updating on after more then twenty-five chapters so I'm stopping here and will start updating a new part (with no time jump this time) in the next week or so…. Now the next part will still focus heavily on Jenny's family and her relationships with Ziva, Eli, Tali and Ari, which was originally the plan for the next few chapters (Again it was just going to be too long for me to be able to update without issues) HOWEVER once again (I swear to satan if I have to say this one more time I'm going to lose my mind) This IS NOT AND NEVER WILL BE a story that focuses on any one person (especially not Ziva) and starting tonight I will be deleting any comments (I'm talking about that one particular guest who's really getting on my nerves and will no longer be allowed to comment because I've had enough, these comments are being deleted now) that are just bitching about her absence, I will also be changing the names on this particular part and removing Ziva's name simply because there wasn't a lot of Ziva however there was a lot of foreshadowing and setting up what is to come in the next part as far as her story goes. Okay I'm done my rant now, thank you all once again for your amazing support!**

**~Katie**


End file.
